Home
by StangeInterests32
Summary: Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos chose good over evil at the coronation, but then concerns arise over their safety once the realization sets in that with the school year ending, they'll have to back home, where being good may not be the best thing for them. Luckily, someone takes it upon herself to to look out for them. No longer a One Shot
1. Chapter 1

The assembled teaching staff of Auradon Prep gathered in the library for their annual end of the year meeting. A low hum filled the room as they talked amongst themselves. Most were discussing the goings on in their classes, comparing notes and trading stories about both their more starred and disruptive students. All in all, the atmosphere was light and most of them were just waiting for the meeting to start in order for it to get closer to being finished.

"Good afternoon, everyone," called the Fairy Godmother as she finally walked in. There were a few returned greetings, but mostly the teachers just sat up at attention. Most of the teachers near the front of the room tried to catch a glimpse of the executive folio grasped in her right hand, the assumption being that its thickness might help indicate the meetings length.

"Alright," she continued as she reached the podium and opened the folio, "I want to keep this short since I know we all have other things we'd rather be doing." There were a few chuckles at the offhand comment. "First and foremost, I just wanted to say once again, thank you all for another amazing year."

A few of the teachers proceeded with a light applause, and Fairy Godmother gave a brief nod in thanks. They watched her shuffle through a page or two before settling on something. "Now for just a few quick announcements; I'd like to offer a congratulations to Coach Jenkins and his staff for their championship year on the tourney field," she smiled as nearly every teacher applauded this time. Coach Jenkins stood from his chair and smiled.

Once he sat back down, Fairy Godmother continued, her additional announcements covering the usual gamut that the teaching staff had come to expect; possible changes to the curriculum, rules that were going to be changed or done away with, new rules to start the next academic year. In total, it was nothing that none of them hadn't heard before.

But as they were listening to Fairy Godmother as she let them know about a new expansion planned for the library, the meeting took a strange new turn as they watched Belle enter the room. The staff had been listening in silence before, but now with the entrance of the Queen Mother, an almost eerie silence filled the library.

"Ah, Your Majesty, thank you for coming," Fairy Godmother said, her tone and posture relating to the gathered staff that this visit was far from unplanned. "Well, as you can see, we have a guest," she told the staff as she turned to them while Belle took a position next to her. "Her Majesty has an announcement that she'd like to make."

"Thank you," Belle told her friend as Fairy Godmother stood aside. She took the podium and cleared her throat. "As you all know, we hosted four children from the Isle of the Lost, and that during the coronation all four of them chose to renounce their parent's upbringing and choose the side of good. They proved it by coming together to defeat Maleficent.

'However, Ben, Adam, and I feel this also brings us a new problem. You see, the coronation was aired on television and shown on the Isle and by now, word has spread of the children's actions."

"You'll forgive my interruption your highness, but maybe I'm not seeing the problem," said an overweight teacher in the back.

"The Isle of the Lost is the home to our land's villains; the worst of the worst. Since their parents live back on the Isle, they too need to go back and our concern is what will happen to the four of them once they go back now that the school year is over."

"You're afraid they might be hurt?" Mr. Deley, the school's chemistry teacher asked.

"That's Ben and Adam's fear. _Mine_ is that they'll be killed." The words resonated throughout the room, once again causing a tenuous silence to fill it. "However, I feel I have a solution," Belle began. "Just like we offered them the chance to come and be educated here, I felt it would only be fair to offer them the chance to stay here as well."

"Wouldn't their parents need to be informed of this?" Coach Jenkins said with a raising of his hand.

"Yes; well at least in the case of Evie, Jay, and Carlos. For obvious reasons, Mal's situation is different. But I've already made contact with their parents and gained approval."

"All three of them said yes?" Fairy Godmother asked in surprise.

"Actually, only the Evil Queen and Jafar said yes; Cruella just sent back a message calling Carlos an ingrate and left the decision to the Evil Queen, who then said yes for Carlos Which brings me to all of you. While I have no problem letting them stay at the palace, I feel staying in separate homes would be beneficial, in order to let them see what a more…traditional home setting is compared to what they're used to."

"You want us to take them in?" came a female teacher's question.

"This will be voluntarily only. If I have no volunteers, they'll be housed at the palace," Belle explained.

Belle looked on as the teachers began to whisper amongst themselves. After a moment she began to become afraid that no one would volunteer. That maybe the four villain children hadn't made enough of an impression that these teachers couldn't find it in their hearts to open their homes to them. After a short time longer and still no one speaking up, she was beginning to lose hope.

"I'll take Mal," Fairy Godmother finally said. When Belle and teachers looked over at her, she merely smiled. "After seeing her being able to get my wand away from her mother, I have a feeling that she may be its next wielder. It's only right that I show her how to use it. Besides, fairies take care of their own," she finished.

"Thank you," Belle said to her. "Are there any other volunteers?"

Once again, the room was silent, until…

"I suppose Evie can come to stay with me and my wife and daughter," Mr. Deley finally said. Despite deciding to take her in, Mr. Deley was still surprised at his action. It was common knowledge that he almost considered having her expelled, but that was because he assumed that she was the cheater that Chad had made her out to be. She then shocked him by proving that she was fully capable of using her mind instead of that mirror, or her looks, to get good grades.

Maybe, he considered, if she had a stable home, she might see that she can use that intellect and become more than just a pretty face, and why not see if he could have a hand in her realizing that.

"Thank you Mr. Deley," Belle smiled. "And I do apologize for this oversight, but Evie was the only one _not_ needing to be volunteered for. Snow White has already said she'll take her."

A small murmur of conversation immediately broke out. "Are you sure?" came a question from the crowd.

"Yes, in fact, Snow insisted once I told her of my plan. She's anxious to get to know her sister," she answered. "That just leaves Carlos and Jay."

It was no secret that while Mal was initially _considered_ the worst of the group upon their arrival, that Jay and Carlos proved themselves to be the biggest handfuls, what with Jay's aggressive nature and Carlos's connection issues. Placing them would be the hardest and many of the assembled staff knew it. Coach Jenkins sat in his seat and waited to see if anyone else was considering taking them in since the thought had crossed his mind.

As he continued to watch and wait, his mind went back to the conversation he'd had with Jay, and the way the boy had looked almost fearful when telling him about his "family dinners". It was obvious that he never got the normal family experience, and that saddened the coach. It might do him good to see what a normal family setting would be like through his family and his children. But he knew that Jay wouldn't want to leave unless he knew Carlos was safe, since he knew that Jay viewed the younger boy as a little brother.

"Do they have to be separated, or can one us take both of them?" Coach Jenkins asked.

"Is that a request to take both of them?" Belle questioned. Coach Jenkins nodded. Belle breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that her people had once again come through for her. "I can arrange for both of them to stay with you, sir. And thank you, I'm certain they'll enjoy the summer with you."

"It's the least I could, ma'am," he answered back.

"Well, I want to thank you all for your time and help," Belle said as she cleared her throat, wanting to sound as at ease as possible despite wanting to cry tears of joy at the success of her plan. "I'll now hand the meeting back over to Fairy Godmother."

"Actually, letting you speak was the last thing on my agenda. I'd also like to extend my thanks to all you for coming and for those of you who volunteered for her majesty's proposal. Meeting adjourned."

Almost immediately the teachers stood and began to file out, bowing politely as they passed Belle. Coach Jenkins hung behind in order to speak with the two women. "So when will all this be arranged?" he asked, a slight touch of nervousness in his voice.

"We'll start the process as soon as I get back to the palace," Belle answered. "And Coach, thank you again for what you're doing," she said.

"It's no problem, Your Majesty," the coach smiled as he bowed his head and then made his way out of the library.

"You really think this will work out?" Fairy Godmother asked.

"Completely; those children deserve homes where they'll feel love instead whatever it was they got on the Isle. Besides, if it didn't have a chance, would you have volunteered the way that you did?"

Fairy Godmother looks plaintively at Belle before finally nodding in agreement. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit to some reservations over Belle's plan, but she didn't question its possible outcome, the chance for those four children to finally have a good home where they were given the things they never had. She just had one nagging concern.

"I'm just anxious to see what Jane's reaction will be when I tell her that Mal's coming to live with us," she voices, causing herself and Belle to begin laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

_First and foremost, I want to say thank you to everyone who's read my original chapter. I'm very flattered by the reviews and requests to see more chapters._

 _That being said, originally, I was only going to do this story as a one shot, but after reading that maybe I should consider making it a multi-chapter story, I started thinking and felt that maybe there were some things that could be explored further. So after some brainstorming, I decided to continue this story. I'm not exactly sure how many more chapters there'll be, but I'm fairly certain there will be at least two, if not three, more to help finish my initial idea properly._

 _However, I will say this, while I know in the original chapter I wrote that Evie would go to live with Snow White, there won't be much mention of that relationship in rest of this story. Maybe a mention or two here and there, but I was already in the process of writing a story (separate from the situations going on in this story) that focused almost entirely on them. In order to prevent any redundancy, I've chosen to exclude them from the remainder of this story. I'm sorry if that upsets anyone, but I'll have the beginning of that story uploaded hopefully in the next few days. If you were looking forward to reading about Evie and Snow White, I'm fairly certain you'll enjoy that story, especially since it was planned as a multi-chapter work. Please don't be angry, I just wanted to do something bigger with them, especially since that relationship seems like it would have the most potential for its work._

 _That being said, enough of my ramblings and I hope you all enjoy this next installment._

"She's what?" Jane practically screamed when she heard the news from her mother.

"Mal is moving in with us," Fairy Godmother repeated as she worked to put together the guest room for Mal.

"Why?"

"Because she has nowhere else to go, Jane," Fairy Godmother told her. "Her mother's been turned into a lizard, and apparently, she never told Mal who her father is, which means she has no other family. And even if we did know who her father was, I'd have still volunteered to take her in. That island isn't safe for her anymore."

"So let her stay at the palace. They have guards," the fourteen year-old said.

Fairy Godmother finished making the bed, then sat down, and the patted the bed next to her. Her daughter sat down, the look on her face somewhere between anger and indignation. She felt for Jane since knew that she had sprung the news on her rather suddenly and for Jane, after so many years as an only child, this had to be the equivalent of bringing home a new baby.

"Sweetie, Belle and Adam, and obviously Ben, were fine with letting her stay there, but after speaking with Belle, I felt that we'd have a more fitting home. After all, Mal is part fairy, just like you. This way, she gets some exposure to being round her own kind."

" _We_ don't even live like real fairies. You stopped using magic, and you've never taught me any," Jane argued.

Fairy Godmother looked at her daughter again. Where before there was anger, now there was sadness. All those years ago, halting her use of magic was the hardest decision she'd ever made, but it wasn't until she heard her daughter say those words with that face that she realized that she did something she never should have…

…she'd made a decision that denied Jane part of who she was without considering her – and she had no right to do that.

Jane continued to look at her mother, her face full of dejection and almost like she wanted to cry. Fairy Godmother leaned over and pulled Jane into a hug. "Janey," she said gently, "I know we haven't exactly been the poster family for fairy living, but I'll make you a deal. If you give this a chance, and try to make Mal feel at home here, I'll do my best to start loosening the reins when it comes to teaching you some magic."

Jane pushed herself out of the hug and looked at her mother, her eyes bright with hope even though her face still held some suspicion. "You're gonna teach me some magic?"

"I'll teach you some magic," she laughed. Jane let out a squeal of joy and Fairy Godmother just laughed a little more. "I will be teaching Mal as well though," she added, "After all I want to keep things more or less fair."

"Totally; I get, but you're still gonna teach me, finally," Jane rejoiced as she smiled from ear to ear. "So when does she get here?" she asked her mother, conscious of the fact that her mother probably knew she was asking more out of the fact that once Mal arrived, the lessons might start. And Fairy Godmother did know that, but if that's what it took for Jane to give this a chance, then so be it, she thought as she smiled.

"And just a little more this way," Coach Jenkins grunted as he and his wife, Liz, moved a large dresser into place. "Perfect," he said as he examined its placement in relation to the rest of the room. "Well, what do you think?" he asked his wife as he motioned around the room.

She looked around and took it all in. The large dresser they'd just moved in was between the main door and the wall. The two beds were set up in the corners on the opposite side of the room with a bedside table next to each bed in the space in the middle. The closet was on the right, next to the bed that would be Carlos' if the red, black, and white color scheme meant anything at all. And finally, on the other side of the main door was the desk.

"It's nice," Liz said slowly.

"But…"

"A little Spartan don't you think?" she asked.

"Well yeah, but it's what the palace sent over, and I'm sure once the boys get settled, they'll start making it their own."

Coach Jenkins surveyed the room and felt good about how it had turned out. He agreed with his wife however, it was bare, but like he'd told her, Carlos and Jay would do the hard part of filling it up with themselves. He looked at his wife as she stood next to him and noticed she had that look on her face when she divided about something.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you this is such a good idea? I mean, they are the sons of villains; and…"

"And they deserve a chance to seen as more than that," he said in their defense. "I mean they already decided they didn't want to be evil, that should count for something?"

"It does," Liz said, "I just want to make sure that their being here doesn't cause problems for our _own_ boys," she told him, referencing their twins who were just shy of twelve.

"I get that, but I think you're overreacting. Shawn and Mark seemed okay with it. In fact, they seemed excited at the thought of the two of them being here."

"They're just happy about the dog Carlos is bringing with him," Liz laughed.

"Yeah, and they even said, it'll be like having two older brothers around to hang with," he reminded her. "And let's not forget, you got something out of this too," he told her with a sly smile.

Liz had to smile at her husband's revelation. When he had come home after that staff meeting to tell her what he'd volunteered himself, and her and the boys as well, for, she was initially upset. It wasn't so much that the boys were descended from villains, though that did give her some pause, but because, as she reminded him, their home wasn't big enough. They had a small two-bedroom house that barely fit the four of them and all of their belongings as it was, and now he wanted to bring in two more children. "Where will, they sleep?" she asked him when he explained the situation.

But apparently, that had already been worked out. In gratitude for their taking in the boys, the royal family had agreed to set them up with a larger home in the same area, so as not to force their twins to have to move and start over as well. At first she hadn't believed him, but when the moving vans showed up and helped them relocate to their new four-bedroom home, she was convinced that she hadn't been lied to. At first her husband had wanted to give Jay and Carlos their own rooms, but she insisted that they share a room, that way they could leave the extra room available for guests, like the boys' two friends if they decided to visit.

"You're just lucky this house is beautiful," she told him jokingly as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "And as much as I still have some reservations, part of me is glad you did this. Your thinking of others reminds me why I love you," she said as she gave him a quick kiss.

"Thank you for doing this," he said knowing that he didn't need to hear any more to know that she was slowing coming on board with this idea.

She smiled at him and gave him another quick kiss. "Now don't just stand there, we have to finish putting this house together before our new arrivals show up."


	3. Chapter 3

"There you go, just keep your focus girls," Fairy Godmother said from her place on a patio chair as she watched Jane and Mal hold two pumpkins each in the air in the backyard. It had been a little over a week and a half since Mal had finally moved in and so far things were getting better. Jane was a little skittish at first, but eventually she started to mellow out. As for Mal, while she didn't go out of her way to make Jane any more nervous than she already was, she certainly took advantage of it when she could for her own amusement by teasing Jane over it. She liked to think that those first few days were just the girls feeling each other out and testing where their boundaries were. And for the most part, the two of them were starting to fall into a routine, though part of that routine was something she could do without.

This morning had been the tenth straight day in a row where she'd had to break up an argument over their use of the bathroom they were sharing. Most mornings she was able to wake up before they did and stop the arguments before they began, but she had decided to sleep in this morning, and was promptly woken up by Jane shouting through the bathroom door, "Quit hogging the bathroom, Mal, you've been in there for a half-hour! It's like your Evie!"

To which Mal replied: "Says the girl who was in here for forty-five minutes yesterday! Now wait your turn!"

And then, to Fairy Godmother's final straw, both girls took it farther than previous mornings.

"Mal, hurry up or I'm gonna make you bald!"

"Do it and I'll turn you into a pet bunny!"

For Fairy Godmother, that was the last straw. While she could tolerate them arguing over the bathroom; after all they were teenage girls, it was expected; she wasn't going to allow them to threaten each other with magic. Which brought her to this afternoon's magic lesson: basic levitation. Both of them had mastered it after about three days, which meant they found its continued use boring and tedious; which is why she found it the perfect punishment.

"How long are we going to have to hold these things?" Mal asked.

"Until I say so," Fairy Godmother answered.

"But it's boring," Jane whined. "And we already know how to do this, at least give us something harder," she added as she held out her right hand to keep the pumpkins steady.

"Girls, levitating objects is a great way to hone your concentration, and sharpen your focus; both of which will be needed when we get to the more advanced lessons. And besides, it never hurts to work out the basics. Right now you can levitate two objects, with time and practice, you can do more."

"I get that," Mal chimed in, "but I agree with J here, this is boring. How much more could we learn about focus and concentration from _more_ time and practice with this?"

Teenagers, Fairy Godmother thought, think they know everything. Since she had started training them, she often found herself wondering if she'd been the same way with her own mother all those years ago when she was being trained. She liked to think she was more studious, willing to undertake any lesson offered with the most diligent nature. Then, as she remembered what her training was actually like, she cringed when she realized she sounded just like Jane and Mal.

"How much more?" she said, almost like she'd been dared. "Put your pumpkins back on the ground."

When both girls just looked back at her, she repeated the instruction. Once they'd done as asked, she got up and stepped between them, and looked at both of them, a sly smile on her face. Then without a word, she walked to the center of yard, and then both girls watched as the four pumpkins they'd been levitating rose off the ground, along with every other pumpkin in the yard, twenty in all. That alone would've been impressive, but then Jane and Mal watched in shock as the gardening tools, a couple of baskets of apples she'd picked earlier, and the patio furniture behind them all rose with the pumpkins. What astonished the girls was that while they'd needed their hands to help hold the pumpkins in place, Fairy Godmother's hands were at her sides. And then, in a final showing of her mastery, every object began rotating in place.

With the same sly smile on her face, she calmly walked back to the girls and stopped in front of them. "When you can do this, I'll stop with the levitation lessons. Until then, you will work on your concentration and focus everyday if I tell you to. Two pumpkins each, hold them still in the air for fifteen more minutes, then come in for lunch. Okay girls?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jane and Mal said in union.

She smiled at them and then went inside to start lunch.

"Uh, Mom, what about the –" Jane started to ask as she pointed to the floating objects, but before she could finish, all of the objects stopped spinning and slowly descended back to the ground. "Did you see that?" Jane asked in awe. "She practically levitated the entire backyard."

"I need to apologize to her for all the times my mother called her a no-powered hack," Mal said.

A half hour later, Mal and Jane sat at the table, a simple lunch of sandwiches in front of them. The both of them were on their second sandwich each and they'd be lying if they weren't tempted to get a third. Fairy Godmother just watched as they practically sped through their food, almost wanting to tell them to slow down, but she knew that they were just compensating for the loss of energy. Despite the fact that the levitation lesson was fairly basic, making them practice it for almost two hours had taken a toll on them.

"I'm starving, but I'm also really tired," Jane said through a mouthful of food." And when is this headache going to start going away, Mom?"

"Soon," she answered. "Focusing for so long put a lot of stress on you physically, so you just need to take it easy for a little bit."

"I get why I'm so hungry then, but why aren't I whining about a headache?" Mal asked, also with her mouth full, before taking a big gulp from her drink.

"I am not whining," Jane squealed in defense.

"My head hurts," Mal teased again in an exaggerated whiny tone, with a smile.

"Mal, be nice. You're only feeling fine because you're older, and have used a little magic already, so your body's handling the stress better right now. And can both of you not talk with your mouths full; show some manners please."

Both girls nodded and then Mal turned toward Jane. "Ha, guess you're the only rookie here, huh?" she teased further.

"Mom, tell her she's a rookie, too."

"Easy Mal," Fairy Godmother said before Jane said something back. "You're fine _now_. Once the lessons get tougher, you'll start feeling like Jane for a while."

"Ha," Jane fired back with a smile. "I'll call you a crybaby when that starts happening."

"I don't cry, Fairy God-whiner."

"I'm gonna remember you said that when you're head's pounding."

Fairy Godmother almost started laughing as she watched the girls interact. Most people would've agreed that they were sniping at each other and probably tried to put a stop to it, but she could tell that they weren't actually _trying_ to be mean, which was probably quite the accomplishment in Mal's case. And she'd never really seen Jane actively try to defend herself. She supposed Mal's presence was the cause. Watching her back at school she could clearly see that Mal was a born leader, and had a tendency to draw out the confidence in those around her, even if they didn't think they had any. At the very least she thought that if having Mal around brought her daughter out of her shell, then a little playful teasing was something she could look the other way of.

* * *

After lunch, Fairy Godmother was in her home office, trying to get some work done concerning next school year's incoming freshman class when she heard her laptop ping. She turned to it and saw that she had a skype request. She turned on the program and was surprised to see Belle on the other end. "Your Majesty, how are you?" she greeted happily.

"I'm good, and you?"

"I'm well, thank you for asking. How's your tour of the kingdoms going? Where are you right now?"

"It's going well, Ben, Adam, and myself are in Camelot right now," Belle answered. "I just wanted to check in on you, you know, see how things are going with Mal."

Fairy Godmother laughed at that. "I'm surprised it's not Ben calling then."

"He texts Mal daily, and they talk whenever he has a few minutes at the end of the day once all his duties are done."

Fairy Godmother nodded at that news. "Oh, to be young and in love," she joked, to which Belle laughed and agreed herself. She then began filling the Queen Mother in on the status of what had been going on. Belle was pleased that Mal and Jane were getting along, and things had more or less been going smoothly. She almost teared up from laughing when Fairy Godmother told her about the daily confrontations over the bathroom.

"I'd actually pay to see that," Belle said as she composed herself after laughing.

"Some mornings the fights actually are funny. Other mornings, well, other mornings lead to them practicing basic magic lessons for a few hours as punishments," Fairy Godmother explained.

"And how are the magic lessons coming?"

"Good, both of them are fast learners, so it makes getting the simple stuff out of the way easier."

"Is Jane excited to finally be doing some magic?"

"I have to rein her in sometimes because she gets a little too excited, but yes, she's thrilled. And Mal seems to be eager to learn all she can too."

"Have you started teaching Mal to use the wand?"

Fairy Godmother shook her head in the negative. "Not yet. I figure she'll be ready to handle it in about another week. Then I'll start the one-on-one lessons with her."

Belle nodded, and soon the two of them were discussing more mundane matters and just having a normal, run of the mill chat. Their conversation had Fairy Godmother so absorbed that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings as well as she should have. As she and Belle had been discussing the matter of Mal's upcoming magical lessons, she'd didn't notice that she'd had an eavesdropper.

Jane had been on her way to talk to her mother when she heard Belle and her talking. She ducked back behind the doorway, making sure she hadn't been seen and listened in as they talked about their lessons, Mal, and, to her disbelief, the wand. She's going to teach Mal to use it, she thought, that means she's going to give it to her one day. As soon as she was sure they were done talking about Mal and the wand, she went back to her room.

She lay in her bed and thought about what she heard; and tried to process it. "I'm not getting the wand," she said out loud. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes as soon as she'd said it. She knew that she wasn't able to handle the wand at the coronation, but always figured that it was because she was just inexperienced, not because she was apparently unworthy. Before she could stop them, tears were forming in her eyes and falling down her cheeks.

"Jane, you okay?" she heard from her door and saw Mal standing there.

"I'm fine," she said through her tears, doing her best to sound normal.

"Which is why you're crying?"

"I said I'm fine," she repeated as she turned to her side, trying to put her back to Mal.

Mal walked in slowly, concern written on her face. "Is it your head still? Did the headache get worse?"

"I…said…I'm…FINE," she shouted.

"Alright, I'll just leave you alone I guess," Mal said in defeat. "Just, um…just let me know if you wanna talk."

Mal walked out of the room and once again, Jane was alone. To spare herself the chance of possibly having to go through a visit from her mother, she got up and closed and locked her door. She went back to her bed and just stared at the ceiling. She flinched as she felt her head begin to throb slightly. She figured it was her anger and her obsessing over what she'd just heard that was causing another headache. However, if she'd been willing to talk to Mal, she would've ended being taken to her mother because Mal would've become concerned since the throbbing was her anger causing her eyes to glow blue.

* * *

Later that day, the three fairies were seated for dinner. Usually dinner was a talkative affair, but tonight it was almost silent. The only sounds that were breaking up the silence were the scrapings of silverware on plates. For Fairy Godmother, this was cause for concern.

"So Mal," she began in an effort to get dinner back to normal. "Belle tells me that you and Ben have been talking almost every day that he's been away."

"Mhm," she said quickly.

"Have you been telling him about your magic lessons?"

"Yeah, he's been pretty supportive. Said he can't wait to be back to see me perform some."

Jane scoffed. "Jane," Fairy Godmother chided. "Sorry about that, Mal."

"It's alright," Mal said as she looked at Jane. "Jane, can you pass the salt, please."

Jane just continued to eat, not even looking up.

"Jane, can you pass Mal the salt?" Fairy Godmother asked her daughter.

Jane put down her fork and pointed at the salt shaker. It began to lift off the table, but she held it in place, scowling at it.

"Jane, I thought I made it clear that there would be no magic at the table," Fairy Godmother told her. Jane proceeded to lift it higher. "Jane, put it down and give it to Mal," she said again, slower this time, and with more authority in her voice.

"Okay, I'll give it to her," she said, a new, and previously unheard, venom in her voice. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she sent the salt shaker flying at Mal. It hit her in the shoulder before crashing to the floor, shattering and spilling it next to her chair.

"What the hell?" Mal screamed at Jane.

"Jane!" Fairy Godmother said at same time, her voice raised.

"I'm sorry," Jane replied sarcastically. "Why don't you get the wand and show Mal how to put it back together?"

"What did you say?" Fairy Godmother asked her daughter, surprise in her voice.

"You have the wand here?" Mal asked.

"Oh yeah, because apparently, she's gonna teach _you_ to use it," Jane said angrily.

"Y-you're gonna teach _me_?"

Fairy Godmother sat motionless in her chair. How did Jane find out, she thought. It wasn't that she was going out of her way to hide the fact the she was going to train Mal to use the wand, and one day take over with it, but she wanted to broach subject slowly, so as not to scare Mal, and have what was happening in front of her right now occur – completely anger Jane. She knew that Jane probably felt that the wand was going to be hers one day since she was her daughter, but it didn't work that way. If she hadn't retired from using magic, she might have had that conversation with her years ago, and gotten her to understand that the passing of the wand wasn't based on heredity, but on merit…and the wand's eventual ability to reveal its future user.

"Why her? I'm your own daughter. Why not me?" Jane asked the anger nearly completely replaced with heartbreak. "Is that why she's here? So you can pass it on to her?"

"Jane, I told you why she's –" Fairy Godmother told Jane softly.

"Answer me!"

"J, calm down," Mal said, trying to sound calm when she was boiling with her own emotions over what she'd heard.

For some reason, one even she didn't understand, Jane became furious at seeing Mal essentially come to her mother's defense. It was almost confirmation for her that she'd been lied to about why Mal was here. Not sure she could take anymore, Jane just leapt from her chair and ran out of the dining room, tears already running down her face all over again. Mal and Fairy Godmother sat in stunned silence until they heard Jane's bedroom door slam shut.

Neither of them moved for a few seconds until Mal finally spoke up.

"Is she right?"

"What, sweetie?" Fairy Godmother asked once she snapped out of her reverie.

"You told me I was coming to live you because you were concerned for my safety. That you didn't think I'd be safe back home and you…you wanted to take care of me," Mal said, her voice breaking near the end as she fought back tears, though her eyes were already watering. "But is Jane right? Is the real reason I'm here only because you have to teach me to use the wand? Am I just a freaking heir?"

Fairy Godmother looked at Mal and was about to answer her. She was going to immediately deny the second reason, since she knew that wasn't the sole reason. As her mouth opened to begin speaking, Mal spoke again.

"Please don't lie to me."

"The wand is _part_ of the reason I asked you to come live here, but it's not –"

Mal ran off before Fairy Godmother could finish speaking. A few seconds later, she heard Mal's door slam shut. She actually flinched as the sound of the slam reached her. She leaned into the table, holding her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. "Things were going so well," she thought out loud. "How the hell am I gonna fix this? _Can_ I fix this?"


	4. Chapter 4

It was warm despite the breeze blowing around, but then again, the area around the Enchanted Lake was always warm. The small stone grotto that encroached into it however was cool to the touch, making the perfect place for an afternoon lunch. Jay lay back on the stones, one arm folded behind his head, supporting his it while he looked up at the cloudless sky. The other was wrapped around the shoulders of Auradon Prep's reigning pink princess as she rested her head along his shoulder and traced a manicured nail along his chest.

"What are you thinking about?" Audrey asked him as she noticed the faraway look on his face.

"Where are the clouds?" Audrey tilted her head to look up at him, the look on her face telling him that she was definitely trying to hold back laughter. "What? You asked?" he said.

Audrey shook her head and let out a giggle as she laid her head back down on him. "Let me get this straight; you are on a date, with the hottest girl at Auradon Prep, if I may so," she began. Jay let out a chuckle as he heard Audrey blatantly brag about herself. "And instead of filling me with compliments, or doing everything in your power to remind me that I made the right choice about saying yes to going out with a VK, something I swore I would never do by the way," she continued, her voice taking on a satirical tone, "You're thinking about, of all things – clouds?"

"Back on the Isle, it's overcast all the time. No breaks, just gloomy. And I'm pretty sure when we left the school, there were lots of clouds. Now? None."

"Wow, I must really be losing my touch if I can't keep a boy's attention on me instead of on the clouds," she laughed.

Jay smiled and leaned his head off his arm to look down at Audrey. "Foxy, you always got my attention."

Audrey smiled and lifted herself up enough to close the distance so she was face to face with him. She leaned in until she was practically on top of him and once again smiled. This time her smile was full of supreme confidence. Jay returned her smile with his own cocky grin. "I better always have it," she told him teasingly before leaning down and pressing her lips to his.

The kiss grew in intensity until the two teenagers were in locked in a full-on make out session. After a couple of minutes Audrey broke the kiss and held herself over Jay.

"You know what comes to my mind when we're out here?" Audrey smiled as she gazed down at Jay. She had a playful, yet slightly mischievous smirk curling her lips.

"What?" Jay asked as he folded one arm back behind his head again, his other hand resting on her hip, and looked up at the beautiful princess.

"Wake up," she said melodically.

"Wake – huh?"

"Wake up," she repeated, this time much more normally. "Wake up, Jay"

"What are you –"

"Wake up. Jay, wake up," she kept repeating, her voice becoming higher in pitch, and if he didn't know better, it was starting to echo. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake…"

* * *

"…up, Jay," came the voices of two eleven year olds, shattering Jay's slumber. His eyes shot open and he tried to sit up in bed, but found that the bed itself was shaking too much. When he finally got enough of his bearings, he realized that Shawn and Mark were jumping on his bed, screaming at him.

"What the hell?" he yelled at them.

"Mom and Dad said you need to get up for breakfast," Mark answered.

"Good, I could use a meal after I get you two," Jay told them. The twins then started laughing as they jumped off his bed and started running out of his room. "I hate when they do that?" he said as he let himself fall back onto the bed. He turned and looked over toward Carlos' bed and saw it was empty. How the hell can he get up so early," he thought.

He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. But, like most mornings, he'd found that the twins had done too good of a job of waking him, and no matter hard he tried, sleep was just out of his reach. He entertained the idea of getting out of bed, especially since he could hear Liz in the kitchen and feel his stomach start to growl.

"Another Audrey dream?" he heard Carlos ask him as he reentered the room.

"No. Now shut it, it's too early."

"Really, because you had the same lopsided grin on your face from when you met her outside the school; and after the coronation right before you two wandered off," he said. Jay could practically feel the stupid smirk on Carlos' face.

Jay smiled as he thought back to that night.

"That's the grin," Carlos said excitedly. Jay reached behind his head and grabbed his pillow. Without opening his eyes, he pulled the pillow out from under him and threw it in the general direction of Carlos' bed. Since he couldn't actually see him, he just hoped the pillow at least went near him, though hitting him with it would definitely brighten his morning after his wake-up call. He laughed as he heard Carlos scream from what he was pretty sure the pillow hitting him.

Now that he was finally without his pillow, he decided to actually make the attempt to get out of bed. He looked over and saw that Carlos was already showered and dressed. "How the hell can you get up so early?" he asked the younger teen.

"Early? Jay, it's like almost noon," Carlos answered as he threw the pillow back over to Jay's bed. "Come on, Liz told me to tell you to hurry up, that breakfast was almost ready.

"Fine," he groaned as he forced himself out of bed and in the direction of the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, he was walking into the kitchen, the sleep having been washed away in the shower. His nose was practically assaulted by the smell of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and what looked like some cut up fruit. He smiled as he felt his mouth start to water from the sight. Carlos, Coach, and the twins were already seated and eating. Every now and then Carlos would lean over and slip a piece of bacon under the table to Dude when he thought Liz wasn't looking.

"I saw that," Liz said from the stove as she finished plating the last of the bacon before setting it on the table.

"Uh, I…I wasn't doing anything," Carlos sais nervously.

"Uh-huh," Liz smiled as she ruffled Carlos' hair. "Bacon's not good for dogs," she told him as she looked down at Dude. Upon being seen, Dude laid down and gave out a small whimper. "You know where your bowl is, I've already put in some food out for you too," she smiled as Dude got up and scurried off.

"They did it again," Jay said as he sat down.

"Who's _they_? And what did they do?" Coach asked as he read the morning news off his tablet.

"The twins," Jay answered, "they gave me their personal wakeup call again."

"Boys, didn't we tell you not to jump on Jay's bed to wake him up?" Coach asked.

"Yes," they answered in unison.

"So why did you jump on his bed?"

"Because Carlos told us to," they answered, again in unison. Jay would be lying to himself if he didn't find that just a tad creepy every now and then.

Liz looked over at Carlos who had frozen in place from being ratted out, his fork actually hovering just outside his mouth. "Really?" she asked.

"Jay's a heavy sleeper?" Carlos said anxiously.

"From now on, if we ever need Jay woken up," Liz began, a stern, yet almost comical look on her face, " _you_ will be the one to do it, alright honey."

Carlos didn't know if the sound of him gulping was real, or only in his head as he heard that news. The sound of the twins laughing at him though, that was real. So was the smile and eye wink Liz gave Jay after her delivery of her, let's call it, compromise. Carlos looked over at Jay and saw the practically evil grin his older friend was giving him. I'm dead, he thought to himself, next time I have to wake him, I'm dead.

"Why do they even listen to him?" Jay asked as he began plating some bacon to go along with the eggs and pancakes Liz had already laid in front of him.

"Because he spends more time with them," Coach Jenkins answered with a soft chuckle.

"He's the one closest to their age," Jay said.

"Doesn't matter, all they see is Carlos looking out for them, and you…"

"Looking for time to talk to Audrey," Carlos joked.

"Carlos," Coach said, again smiling at finally seeing Carlos giving instead of getting when it came to Jay. Carlos raised his hands in surrender.

"You should try and spend time with them," Liz told him.

"Got any ideas," Jay answered, doing his best to not roll his eyes.

"Well, since it is Saturday, and me and Liz need to go into the city for some errands," Coach started, his face looking like the gears in his mind were turning. "Hey boys," he said to Mark and Shawn, "How would you like for Jay to teach you two how to play tourney better?"

"Yeah," they said, turning toward Jay, expectant smiles on their faces. Jay looked over at them, and saw that, apparently, they were looking forward to their Dad's suggestion.

"Fine, I guess. But Carlos has to come with me," he relented. When Liz and Coach looked at him, he knew what their reactions were going to be. "There's two of them, there should be two of us. Besides, since my little buddy over there knows how to control them, he'll be the perfect back-up," he said, turning his voice sickly sweet.

"Works for me," Coach said.

* * *

A little over an hour later, Jay, Carlos, and the twins were walking onto Auadon Prep's tourney field. Coach had given them the keys and called ahead to let security know that they'd be there. The twins ran ahead of the two older boys, chasing each other around, pretending that they were playing in an actual match while Jay checked his phone. "Seriously dude?" Carlos asked, the frustration in his voice.

"What?"

"Can you go five minutes without seeing if she texted you?"

"I let her know when we left that I'd be out here, and that I'd be busy. I just wanted to make sure she let me know she got the message."

"If I see her show up here…"

"You'll what?" Jay asked, his voice more serious. He wasn't threatening Carlos, and hoped Carlos knew that, but he wasn't about to let the younger boy forget who was the tougher of the two of them.

To his credit, Carlos did know that Jay wasn't considering harming him, for the most part. But for the first time, he wasn't just going to roll over because Jay got in his face. Not this time.

"If I see Audrey here, I'm gonna make sure that Coach and Liz know you ditched the twins. And I'll make sure that they wake you up every morning by jumping on your bed."

Oh my God, did I just say that, Carlos thought. His nervousness intensified when he saw the blank, serious glare that Jay was giving him.

"You'd rat me out? Me? After all we've been through?"

Carlos swallowed hard, and mustering what courage he had, decided that he wasn't going to be backed into silence.

"We've got a good thing here, Jay. Coach, Liz, the twins; they've been good to us. And I'm trying, even if you're not. And I don't know if it's because you're scared or you have at least one good memory about your home life back home, but I don't," he ranted. "Maybe your Dad was able to find a way to treat you like you were his kid, but mine didn't. My mother treated me like a slave. As long I did whatever stupid, or mean, or humiliating thing she ordered me to do, she didn't care what happened to me. She didn't care if I was sick, or hurt; and remember, I have the scars to prove that. So you'll excuse me if I don't want to mess this up," he finished as he started to walk off.

"I'm not scared," Jay told him. Carlos turned back and looked at his friend. "Not…not really." He walked toward Carlos, looking around, making sure the twins were out of earshot. "Back home, my Dad would start to loosen up, and things would start to feel better. I'd let my guard down because of it, and, the next thing I know, he's on my case because he's saying I'm going soft, and that the only way he'd let me prove I was worth keeping around was to make sure I scored enough junk for the shop"

Carlos stared back at Jay, definitely surprised at what he'd just been told. After Evie, he'd always assumed that Jay's home life was the most stable. Hell, anything had to be more stable than my own, he thought. Jay, to his own shock, was surprised that he'd let Carlos know what he was dealing with.

"I might not have been treated like a slave, but I wasn't always treated like a son."

"You're afraid that's gonna happen here aren't you?" Jay did answer, but Carlos knew anyway. "We're not gonna get thrown out, or away, or anything, man. Well, they won't as long as we don't start acting like Mal and Jane, barely speaking to each other. But you gotta start acting like you want to be here, because Coach and Liz can tell. That's why they want you to hang with Pain and Panic over there," Carlos told him. Jay laughed at the nicknames Carlos had just given the boys.

'I'm making the attempt aren't I?" he asked with a wave of his hand toward the twins and the field.

"Yet still checking your phone."

At that comment, Jay pulled his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling through the functions. After a few seconds, he handed the cell over to Carlos. Carlos looked at the screen and saw that it was messages between him and Audrey.

 _Me: Coach asking me to show the twins to play tourney. Cant talk 2 u till later_

 _Foxy: Awwww look u trying 2 act like big brother_

 _Me: Not mad?_

 _Foxy: No. call me when ur done. Bye babe_

Carlos looked up from the phone and back at Jay.

"See?" Carlos just kept staring at him, and it was starting to freak him out. "What?"

" _Babe_?" he asked, the smile on his face a mixture of appreciation, and the attempt to fight back the overwhelming urge to begin making fun of Jay.

"Shut it," Jay told him forcefully, yanking his phone back from his friend. "And not a word of that to anyone, especially Mal and Evie," he ordered as he began walking toward the twins.

I can't wait to tell Jane then, Carlos thought with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

The last week had been one of the most strenuous the home of Fairy Godmother had seen in recent memory. Things had more or less cooled since that catastrophe of a family dinner, though it was clear that Jane and Mal were still at odds with each other. They barely spoke to each other, and did their absolute best to avoid each other unless it was necessary that they be in the same room. The tension was so thick, that Fairy Godmother had to stop with the dual magic lessons, and begin teaching each girl individually. They were so angry at each other in fact, that they finally stopped fighting over the bathroom, letting Fairy Godmother get some much needed sleep after the days of dealing with them. Despite the now quite mornings, Fairy Godmother actually found herself missing the arguments over who needed the bathroom more in the mornings.

Fairy Godmother been forced to ground Jane after what happened, which angered Jane even further when she found out that Mal was not getting punished along with her. She wanted to explain to her daughter that while she was trying to be fair with both of them, in the end, Mal had not actually done anything wrong that night; but Jane wasn't hearing any of it. All Jane heard was that Mal was getting treated differently; treatment she blamed on the fact that Mal was the _next_ Fairy Godmother.

Jane sat sulking on the couch, trying to reach a book since she wasn't allowed to watch TV until she ungrounded, or all three of them were together; and even then, it was usually whatever Mal or her mother chose. This sucks, she thought as she tried for umpteenth time to get into the story, but found her mind wandering to what was happening outside. Today was the first day of Mal's training with the wand; an event that she could tell Mal was unbelievably excited about, even if she tried to hide it. She wanted to stay in her room while it was going on, but her room overlooked the backyard, and the last thing she wanted to see was Mal, her mother, and the wand all together.

They had been out there for almost an hour when she heard the door leading back into the house open. She braced herself for seeing Mal come in, thrilled beyond belief over having finally handled the wand properly. What she actually saw, she was totally unprepared for. Her mother and Mal were slowly making their way through the house, and if Jane didn't know better she could've sworn she heard pained groaning. Getting up from the couch, she slowly made her way to the door that led to the hallway and peer around its threshold.

Her mother was leading Mal through the hallway toward her bedroom. One of Mal's arms draped over Fairy Godmother's shoulders, and from Jane's perspective, it looked like her mother was the only thing holding Mal up. As they moved closer, Jane caught a glimpse of Mal and became a little frightened. Mal looked paler than normal, her ski so sickly white that she could have been mistaken for a ghost. And while Jane knew it was physically impossible in just an hour, she could've sworn that Mal looked thinner. Her eyes were glassy and half open, a glimpse Jane was lucky to even make since Mal could barely hold her head up.

"Mal, are…are you okay?" she asked so softly the question would've been completely lost had Mal not been nearly in front of her.

Mal's head never lifted, but Jane could see that she was trying to shake her head. She could also see that Mal's lips started to quiver and if she looked close enough, Jane could almost see Mal begin to cry.

"Mom?"

"Mal's going to be alright, sweetie, she just needs to rest," Fairy Godmother answered as she continued to slowly help Mal toward her bedroom. Eventually they made it and Jane watched them disappear into it. Almost immediately her mother came back out and went to the kitchen. She then went back to Mal's room, this time carrying a bowl of ice water and a washcloth. A few minutes later her mother came back out, a look of worry written all over her face like a neon sign.

"What happened?" Jane asked, concern for Mal for the first time in days.

"The wand," her mother answered flatly.

"The wand did that to her?" Jane questioned almost in fright. Fairy Godmother nodded. "How? Why?"

Fairy Godmother looked back into Mal's room, and making sure that the girl was still in bed, and more or less down for the count, she motioned for Jane to follow her. She led her daughter into the living room and sat her down on the couch, and then took a seat next to her.

"Remember after you got angry, how I explained that the wand chooses who will be its next wielder?" Jane nodded. "Well, once that fairy is chosen, she must begin training to use the wand, like I'm showing Mal. The thing about it is, the wand is a very powerful object. So powerful, that during training, it's been known to drain the strength of the successor. Now under normal circumstances, the drain is taxing, but tolerable since that fairy's body will have been accustomed to dealing with the drains involved with handling new magic's over the years of their normal magical instruction. But Mal got started so late in life."

"I'll say – all of two weeks ago."

"Normally I would've waited for Mal to have more time with her normal magical training, but the same connection the wand has with me, I can already feel it being made with her; so I had to start her training earlier than I wanted to," Fairy Godmother explained as Jane listened with concern.

"Will she be okay?" Jane asked the obvious worry in her voice.

Fairy Godmother nodded. "Mal's strong, and as she gets used to the wand's power, along with her own powers, she'll get better. But right now, she's as weak as a kitten, and I need to go get few things to help her heal. I need you to watch her for me for a little while," Fairy Godmother informed her daughter.

"But Mom," Jane protested.

"I know you're still angry with Mal, but you saw her just now. If I go, I need to make sure that she's taken care of. Please, Janey, for me, and for Mal's well-being, can you set aside your problems with her for about an hour or two?"

Jane looked back in the direction of Mal's room and actually thought about saying no. But then she decided that if she were in the same situation, she'd want Mal to swallow whatever pride she had and watch over her. "Fine," she relented.

"Thank you, sweetie," Fairy Godmother breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her daughter. "I'll try to make it quick, but stay close. In fact, since your room is right next to Mal's, stay there. You can even watch TV again while I'm gone, okay?"

Jane nodded nonchalantly and watched as her mother left. A few minutes later, she was laying on her bed, trying to find something to watch when she heard a crash followed by what sounded like retching. She walked over to Mal's room and gasped in shock when she saw Mal leaning half-way off the bed, the bowl of ice water spilled onto the floor, the water mixing with the vomit Mal had thrown up.

Jane immediately ran to the bathroom and grabbed some towels. She went back to Mal's room and saw Mal trying to lean back onto the bed. She helped her finish laying back before beginning to clean up the floor.

"J…Jane, I'm sorry about –"

"Don't worry, I got it," she told Mal a little more harshly than was necessary. "Just try to rest. I'll…I'll clean this up."

She heard Mal groan before she tried, weak as she was, to speak again.

"N-no, not the floor. I'm sorry…"

"Mal, shush," Jane cut her off flatly. "You need to rest. Mom will be back in a little bit to take care of you."

Jane was already doing her best to clean up the vomit, while at the same time trying not to throw up herself from the smell. She had managed to get it all without upchucking, and then went to put the dirty towels in a trash bag. When she came back, she saw Mal curled up in the fetal position, tears running down her face.

She went and grabbed some tissues from the bedside table and, surprising herself, gently wiped the tears.

"Please don't hate me," she heard Mal sob as she was starting to make her way out of the room.

"What?"

"I…I know how much you…how much you wanted to the wand to be yours, and instead, it chose me," she started. With great effort, the purple-haired teen lifted her head to look at Jane. "I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."

With one struggled plea for forgiveness, Jane felt herself become guilty for a week's worth of anger. She was mad that she wasn't getting the wand. Anyone could understand that, she thought, but its's not like it was Mal's fault that the wand chose her. And watching her now, Jane doubted that Mal would've intentionally chosen this if she knew what kind of pain she'd be going through.

Without warning, she moved back into the room and got on the bed and crawled up next to Mal. She wrapped and arm around her, trying to help her relax. "How do you feel?"

"It hurts," Mal groaned. "Janey, I feel so weak it actually hurts," she answered, as she began to cry, no longer caring that Jane would see it happen.

"Shh, it's okay, Mal. You're gonna be okay," Jane comforted, hugging Mal a little tighter.

"I don't know if I can handle –"

"No, don't say that," Jane interrupted her. "You're the toughest person I've ever met, well at least after my Mom. That's why you got the wand. And Mom says you'll get better, you just need to tough it out. And I know you can do that, and…and I'll be right here for you, okay?"

Jane felt Mal nod her head. She held the suffering girl for a few minutes longer. Determined to wait as long as it took for Mal to fall asleep. She was so fixated on helping her, that Jane didn't notice that Mal had finally calmed down enough that she had fallen asleep. She also failed to realize that she was falling asleep herself, and she certainly didn't notice when it finally happened.

Twenty minutes later Fairy Godmother was walking back into the house. She refrained from shouting out for Jane for fear of disturbing Mal. Instead, she quietly made her way through the house until she found both Ma and Jane asleep. Mal looked quite peaceful, and she had to fight back tears as she looked upon Jane holding Mal, obviously trying to comfort the older girl in her time of need. She smiled, and thanked the stars that the girls had made up, because if this didn't mend the bond they had begun constructing, nothing would.


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright guys, go take a load off," Jay told Mark and Shawn as they dragged themselves back into the house. The twins dropped their tourney gear next to the door and began walking, a rarity for them, up the stairs.

"Hey, your Mom doesn't like your stuff there, pick it up," Carlos called after them from the couch. Both of them groaned and came back and picked up the gear and began trudging it up the stairs with them.

Coach watched his boys from the couch where he and Carlos had been watching TV and just shook his head while smiling. "What did me and Liz do before you two got here?" he laughed.

"You two were outnumbered," Jay answered as he moved to sit in the chair that was adjacent to the couch.

"Outnumbered? There are two of them, and two of us."

"And I just spent the third day in a row trying to keep track of them," Jay responded. "I really think you have quadruplets and you're just hiding the other two. They're freaking exhausting. You need to heal up that ankle faster so you can help me with them," he told Carlos.

The Saturday before, when he and Jay had taken the boys out for their first tourney lesson with them, Carlos had twisted his ankle while practicing some defense with them. Luckily the school had a small cleaning crew on site so there were people there to help until the ambulance arrived. Within a half-hour Carlos was in the ER, Jay sitting with the twins, doing his best to reassure them that what happened to Carlos wasn't their fault. He actually felt something in him become moved at seeing the looks of fear and worry on their faces and the tearing up of their eyes since despite his efforts; he knew they were probably blaming themselves.

"Guys, accidents happen, especially when you play sports," he said as he stood them in front of the chair he was sitting in. "I've gotten banged up doing this, and amazingly, Carlos has gotten banged up playing. So look at me," he told them as calmly as he could, trying to use the same voice he used when trying to make Mal or Evie feel better when they got upset. "He's gonna be fine. He's even had a little worse than this." He explained to them, even lying a little bit at the end about Carlos' injury history.

It turned out, that while Jay wasn't completely wrong, he wasn't completely right either. Carlos had suffered a moderate ankle sprain that had left him confined to the house with his leg elevated to help the swelling. It would be at least another two weeks of therapy exercises before his ankle was fully healed, meaning whenever they left the house, Jay was the designated, and now sole, older brother figure when it came to watching the boys.

"It's healing as fast as it can, but still gotta stay off it," Carlos told him.

"Then call your girlfriend to come say a spell or something and heal it up completely," Jay ordered Carlos.

"Jane is not my girlfriend," Carlos countered.

"Could've fooled me," Coach laughed. "The way that girl was doting on you at the hospital; I mean Liz thought it was adorable," he added. Jay started laughing as he remembered back to that day the week before.

Once Carlos had made it to the hospital, Jay called the Coach and Liz to tell them what happened. The next call was to Mal and Evie to let them know that Carlos was hurt. Unsurprisingly, both girls told him they were on their way, though Evie would take the longer to arrive since she had to travel farther. When Mal arrived, Fairy Godmother and Jane were with her, and, in his opinion, Jane looked more worried that Mal did.

"How is he?" Jane blurted out before Mal could even open her mouth.

Jay told them that Carlos was in a lot of pain when they brought him in, but other than that, he was more or less alright. While they waited for the results of Carlos' x-rays, they were finally allowed to see him, and that's when the aforementioned doting began. Jane practically took up position next to Carlos' bed and made it her job to see that he was comfortable. All the young boy had to do was ask for something and Jane did her best to get, whether it be anything from a blanket, to an extra pillow, to a glass of water, all the way to asking the nurses if he could have something for the pain.

By the time Carlos was released, Liz wasn't the only one who was finding Jane's caregiving cute. Fairy Godmother had to hold back her laughter at the way Jane watched over Carlos, and she had to stop Mal from poking fun at dreamy way she looked at him when they talked. Even Jay had promised himself that he was going to give his friend some grief over the way he tried to seem like he wasn't in that much pain and that he was handling things better than he probably was for the sake of looking tougher in front of the pretty half-fairy.

Once Evie arrived however, all bets were off. She had no problem giving the two fourteen year olds some mild teasing, especially since she found their puppy love, her exact words for it, beyond cute. Even behind all the teasing though, she tried her best to actually get the two of them together that day, despite Mal trying to back her off so Carlos could get some rest.

"I'm surprised she's not here right now," Coach said as he took a quick turn at his drink from the coffee table.

"That's because she's grounded," Carlos said.

"Again?" Jay asked in genuine shock. He ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes before speaking again. "It's like all that girl's done since Mal moved in is get grounded."

"You didn't know?" Carlos asked him. Jay shook his head. "Mal's grounded right along with her this time, though."

Jay started to laugh and even Coach gave a small chuckle. "I thought the two of them were getting along again?" Coach asked.

"They are," Carlos answered as he reached forward for his own drink. Unfortunately, with his ankle resting on the couch, and he really unable to move it without some pain, the drink was out of his reach. Coach therefore reached over and handed it to him. "Thanks. Even though they're getting along again, they still fight over the bathroom. A couple of days ago, Jane said Mal was in the bathroom for like an hour and a half and Jane," he explained, starting to laugh a little bit, "Jane used a spell to give Mal a pixie cut to trim the time down."

Both Carlos and Coach began laughing, as did Jay, though he motioned that he didn't actually know what a pixie cut was. "It's a cut with hair shorter than Carlos'," Coach told him.

"Damn."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed. "Anyway, to get back at her, Mal actually turned Jane into a rabbit," he added causing the three off them to start laughing almost hysterically.

"Boss lady cannot have been happy with that," Coach said when he composed himself.

Carlos shook his head. "Jane said she grounded them both for a week."

"Well at least they're getting along again," Jay said.

The three of them watched some television until Liz finally walked back into the house, her arm full of bags of groceries. Jay and Coach immediately went to help her, leaving Carlos on the couch by himself. While Jay and Coach helped Liz, he felt the time was right to finally capture the TV for himself. It's not he hated watching sports but, unless Coach was watching the news, it was all Jay and Coach ever really watched. Carlos however, like to watch the more educational stuff every now and then.

He was just getting into a show about the past wars of Auradon when they both came back and Jay immediately went for the remote. Carlos did his best to keep it out of his reach, which led to the both of them getting into a small scuffle.

"Hey," Coach raised his voice at them to get their attention. "Boys! Boys!" he shouted when they didn't listen. Finally, the two of them stopped and looked over at him. "Jay, sit," he told Jay as he pointed back at the chair Jay had previously occupied. "Thank you. We'll let Carlos keep watching what he wants for a while."

Carlos smiled smugly at Jay and watched as Jay just glared back at him. a few minutes later, Liz came in as well after putting away the groceries and checking on the twins. "Jay, whatever you did to those two, thank you, it looks like they'll be out for a while," she said smiling before taking a drink of her tea.

"Just trying to help," Jay laughed.

The four of them continued to watch television until the show Carlos was watching was over and then Liz and Coach shared a look. After a quick nod to each other, they both decided to act on what they'd had planned for today. "Carlos, sweetie," Liz started, "can you turn off the TV, please?"

"Okay," Carlos let out slowly, already feeling a little confused. He looked to Jay, and got a shrug in response since Jay didn't know what was going on either. "Something wrong?"

"What did Carlos do and why am I in trouble for it, too?" Jay asked swiftly, figuring it was best to figure out quickly what was wrong so he could figure a way out of it just as fast.

"Nothing's wrong boys," Coach said as he saw their shared glances. "We just want to talk to you."

"You two have been here just over a month, and we wanted to see how you were feeling." Liz said. "So?"

Both boys just looked at each other, neither one really knowing what to say. In their time in Coach Jenkins' home, they'd only had a few conversations over that exact subject, usually when one of them was acting like they were restless, and most of the time, as much as he hated to admit it, it was usually Jay.

"I think…," Carlos began, nervousness in his voice, "Well, we've –"

"There's no _we_ ," Jay interrupted. "Carlos has been doing pretty well. I'm the one who's been – who had – trouble adjusting."

"Jay," Carlos started, but Jay silenced him with a shake of his head.

"Trouble?" Coach asked, a little shocked.

"Why?" Liz asked, sympathy in her face and tone.

Jay looked down at the floor, his face going vulnerable for the first real time in his life. He'd rarely let people in like he was about to do. He'd never let Carlos in this way; not even Mal or Evie had ever been privileged to seeing Jay let down his guard.

"On the Isle, things are different. Most of our parents are still so consumed with their past, their defeats, that they obsess over them. All we hear is, 'if it hadn't been for this', 'if so and so hadn't stopped me, we'd be living the life of royalty'. If you lived with my father, you'd have kept hearing about how he'd be the sultan right now, and Aladdin would be buried somewhere in the desert.

'And they constantly berate us to be better, because when we get off the island, and they all swear we'll get off once they come up with the perfect plan, we're going to need to be smarter, stronger, and nastier than them to take over. And if you're not good enough, then…"

"Bad things happen," Carlos finished for him.

"You don't think those things are going to be happening here do you?" Coach asked concerned.

Jay shook his head. "No, definitely not. It's just…I guess for a while, because of how I grew up, having to stay sharp or get punished for going soft, I was waiting for the shoe to drop."

"He's just now starting to get comfortable," Carlos informed.

"And what about you, sweetie?" Liz asked. "Jay said you've been doing a little better than him."

Carlos nodded.

"Yeah, well, when you have my upbringing, you kind of latch onto anything better. Remember what I was like when we came here?" he said to Jay, both of them laughing at the memory.

Coach and Liz looked at them questioningly.

"Carlos' mother didn't want to let him come. He practically threw his stuff into a garbage bag and made a run for the limo that brought us here. If it hadn't been for Evie blocking her way, I think she might've actually dragged him back home."

"She was afraid of not having anyone to fluff her furs, touch up her hair, or…or scrape her bunions," Carlos finished, shivering at the memory of his mother's gnarled, nasty feet. "If you haven't figured it out, I was more slave than son."

"Is he serious?" Liz asked. Jay nodded, and both Coach and Liz, more Liz however, felt their blood run hot at the sound of that. They wondered how anyone could treat their child like that, and then had the same though over Jay.

As much as they felt relief at what the boys had told them, that they had made themselves home here, as they should have, the conversation also shone some light into the way they were raised on the Isle.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say this," Coach began, "Whatever happened over at the island, is _not_ happening here. There's no need to be looking out for another shoe to drop…"

"And you most definitely are not going to be slave labor here," Liz told Carlos. "All we ask is that if either of you ever feels like…like you need to talk, or to be reassured that you belong here, let us know, okay boys?"

Carlos and Jay nodded.

As they continued to sit, the television turned back on, neither of the boys' faces betrayed them, and neither did anything they said after that once the conversations started back on more normal subjects, but each felt like a weight had been lifted. Jay started to think that maybe could relax a little and give himself permission to breathe without the fear of being made to feel like he was losing his edge.

Carlos felt a feeling of confirmation. He'd practically felt at home the second he walked into this house, and didn't want to lose the first place to give him that feeling. He enjoyed being _asked_ to do chores, not _ordered_. He liked that he didn't have to help maintain anyone's appearance other than his own. And most of all, he loved that nothing here was going to add to the small collection of scars that that his mother had given him.

As Carlos and Jay just sat in the living room, for the first time in their lives, they actually found themselves in a home that they _wanted_ to be in. And as much as they thought their blank, stoic faces didn't betray them, Coach and Liz had a fairly accurate assumption that the boys were going to be okay calling this house, and their family, home.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: The last few chapters have had some pretty heavy drama. I think it's time for our loveable patchwork siblings to finally have some fun.

This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but I decided to split it since I wanted to spend a little more time on the parts concerning what happens at the party, but felt that this chapter was whole enough to stand alone without the scenes at the party. Oh, and by the way, if anyone is wondering, Evie will be at the party, which means she will finally be making an appearance in the next chapter.

Thanks for all the love up to now, and please enjoy…

* * *

"Boy's, hurry it up, you're going to be late," Coach shouted up the stairs to Carlos and Jay. "I thought only girls took this long to get ready," he said to his wife who was watching from the couch.

Liz just smiled and nodded.

A minute later, the two of them came down the stairs, definitely dressed to impress. Jay had on a pair of dark pants, and his blue and yellow sleeveless vest over a black shirt. Carlos had on his dressier black short pants matched with a white long-sleeved shirt. Instead of his favorite red, black, and white fur-lined leather jacket, he opted for a red and black leather vest and threw on his favorite combat boots.

"Not bad, boys," Coach said.

"You two clean up nice," Liz said from the couch.

"Although, and I'm just asking," Coach started with a wink to Liz, "I get why he's shined up," he continued pointing to Jay. "But I thought your girlfriend couldn't go to this party?" he asked with a smile on his face.

Jay started to laugh and Carlos just rolled his eyes.

"For like the hundredth time, Jane is _not_ my girlfriend."

"Which is why you're wearing the vest she got you after you got out of the hospital?" Jay asked though his laughter.

Carlos opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Jay and Coach started laughing together when they saw Carlos begin to blush.

"Leave the poor boy alone," Liz told them, though she too was laughing just a little bit. "He just wants to look nice. You think she'll find a way to be there to see you wearing it, sweetie?" she asked, causing Coach and Jay to laugh harder.

"I hate both of you right now, I really do," he said toward Jay and Coach as he moved away from the bottom of the steps and made his way toward the door. "Can we please just go?"

Coach nodded and pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Jay. "I don't need to tell you be careful do I?" Jay shook his head coolly. "Jay," Coach chastised. "Be careful. Watch the speed limit, and no joyriding."

"If you want traffic laws followed to the letter, give the keys to him," Jay said, pointing in Carlos' direction."

"Carlos is fourteen."

"And he's been driving sine he was eleven."

Coach looked at Carlos skeptically. "My mom would make me drive the car to have it detailed. So yeah, I can drive."

Coach looked back and forth between the boys, actually considering giving the keys to Carlos. "He's still too young," Liz said from the couch.

I suppose she's right, he thought as he decided to leave the keys with Jay. "Be careful boys," he told them one more time.

"We will, it's not like we're going that far anyway," Jay said as he and Carlos finally made their way out of the house.

"Remember boys, midnight," Liz shouted after them.

* * *

Jane was in the kitchen making herself a snack, trying to decide how to pass the time when she heard footsteps enter the kitchen from behind her. She turned and saw Mal leaning against the doorframe. She took in the outfit Mal was wearing; a studded, purple leather jacket over a lace one shoulder blouse and matching black leather skirt.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Mal asked Jane as she looked Jane over.

"Because I'm not going to Ben's party," she told her as she poured her cereal into a bowl. "And neither are you, we're grounded – again – remember? Because of you, I've been grounded more times this summer than I have in my entire life."

"But you've had some fun though, right?"

"Fun? You turned me into a bunny!" she shouted at Mal.

"And you were adorable, I still have the pictures. And besides, you gave me that God-awful haircut first," Mal reminded.

"Well, what about the time before that with…"

"Trying to levitate the entire backyard before we were ready was your idea. And it was both our faults that all those pumpkin, and apples, and oranges blew up."

Jane nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, what about the salt incident?"

"That one was all you, I was the victim there," Mal smiled.

"You know, when you got here and assumed the role of older…," Jane stopped herself from almost calling Mal the older sister. No need to give her _that_ kind of ammunition, she thought. Her ego would go crazy with it. "Of older child, I expected you'd be more responsible."

"Have you met me? Hi, I'm Mal, I'm originally from the Isle of the Lost."

Both girls began giggling at that, the tension lessened for a moment.

"So, if we're even caught, we'll just be getting into a little bit more trouble anyway, so…again: why aren't you dressed?"

"Again, we're grounded remember?"

Mal waved her hand nonchalantly in the air. "A small setback, especially since your Mom's gonna be with Belle and Beast most of the night, we can go, have fun, and be back before she knows. And besides, what we did wasn't that bad."

"Wasn't that bad?" Jane asked as she grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator. "Mal, we used the teleportation spell Mom taught us to go visit Evie over at Snow White's without permission."

"Exactly, we just went to see a friend."

"Snow White's palace is like a three-hour drive from here and we used a spell to do it in three seconds. Mom was furious."

"I didn't hear you trying to talk me _out_ of talking you _into_ it when it happened. And I certainly didn't hear you worry about her being furious during the shopping trip Snow White treated us to," Mal argues with a tug on her new jacket for emphasis.

Jane thought back to the hours her, Mal, and Evie spent shopping, all with Snow White's promise to buy them anything they wanted, no matter the price. She smiled as she thought about the blue floral sundress she'd bought. She thought it would look nice on a date with…

She shook her head to stop herself. Getting off topic, she thought.

"Jay told me Carlos loved the vest you got him that day. Oddly enough, I remember you being pretty adamant that it should match that dress you bought," Mal teased.

"I don't want to wear that dress until _I'm_ ungrounded," she lamented. "Which is _why_ I have nothing to wear to that party anyway," she told Mal. She watched as Mal got a very mischievous look on her face and then slowly sauntered into the kitchen. As she closed the distance she began to leisurely circle her, looking her up and down. "What?"

"You're my height, about the same weight, almost the same figure…"

"Mal," Jane said, somewhat afraid.

She watched as Mal smiled even bigger, and the next thing she knew, Mal was dragging her by the hand back towards her bedroom.

* * *

Ben had walked into the ballroom he was using for tonight's party. He's had the tables and most of the formal decorations swapped out for comfortable lounge furniture that was more comfortable. He also brought the usual table after table of food as well as a DJ rather than a band. He made sure to pick a ballroom that opened out into the grounds so people could wander outside if they wanted.

He wanted to make sure his friends could come over and relax, and just have fun. In his case, he just wanted to see them again since he'd been gone for most of the summer attending to his duties as kings. Now, he was home and frankly, exhausted. He'd been adamant that once he got back he wanted a few days with no obligations so that he could enjoy some time with his friends.

And while it went unsaid, everyone knew he wanted some time with Mal. He'd missed her while he was gone. He wanted to bring her with him, but was told that she needed to stay to undergo training with the Fairy Godmother's wand. While he wasn't pleased with being separated from her, he understood.

"So is everything ready for tonight?" he heard his mother ask as she came in.

"Yeah, it looks great," he said as he snuck a piece of food from one of the tables.

Belle smiled at her son and walked over to him. she gently held his face and then kissed him on the cheek. She laughed when she saw him blush. He might be king, but he's still my little boy, she thought. "Have fun tonight, but please make sure things don't get too out of hand." Ben nodded. "Your father and I will be out late, but don't think that means this can go on all night, okay?"

"No problem, Mom," he answered as his mother left the room. Once she was gone, he checked his phone that was in his pocket. It was on vibrate because he was waiting on a text from Mal and he didn't want to attract his mother's attention since she knew that Mal wasn't allowed to come tonight.

 _Mal: FG gone. Jane on board. All set for tonite. See u ltr._

He smiled as he snuck another piece of food from the table. _Now_ tonight was going to fun.

* * *

Mal was sitting on Jane's bed, waiting impatiently for Jane to finish getting ready. When Jane took a few more minutes to than she liked, Mal fell back on the bed. She decided to speed things along when she realized she was entertaining the idea of redoing her nails. Great, now I'm turning into Evie, she thought.

"Jane, hurry it up, it's only a dress, not a –"

"I'm coming!" Jane shouted before Mal could finish.

Seconds later, Jane came out from her closet where she'd been changing. Mal sat up and immediately gave a nod of approval.

"I knew my dress would fit you," she said as she looked Jane over. She had given Jane the dress she'd worn on her first date with Ben. As she smoothed out a few small wrinkles she walked Jane over to the full length mirror. "How do you feel?"

"Well…," Jane let out slowly, not sure how to answer. "It's nice."

"Nice? I think you look great."

"Thanks," Jane said, a little unsure.

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's _your_ dress. People are gonna think I needed you to…"

"The only people who've seen me in this are Ben and Evie."

"Still _your_ dress."

Mal rolled her eyes and almost groaned in frustration, until she suddenly she had an idea. "I will be right back."

"Mal," Jane called after her after seeing Mal get the same smile she had in the kitchen. "Mal, don't do anything drastic."

Less than a minute later, Mal was running back into Jane's bedroom – wand in hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jane gasped.

"This," she said as she raised her hand.

Before she could speak, Jane grabbed Mal's wrist. "We can't go to a party if you're sick in bed."

Mal smiled at Jane, appreciating the concern. "I haven't been that sick or winded in over a week; and this is not like my training, it's not gonna take three hours. One spell in just a few seconds."

Jane looked at Mal, and after a few seconds of thought, relented. "Okay, but if you end up a drooling mess on the floor, I'm calling Mom."

"Totally."

Mal re-raised her arm, and with a few flowing swipes, excitedly uttered:

"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."

In swirling flash of golden light, that was tinged with just a few purple sparkles, the dress changed from its normal dark purple to a light blue.

Jane looked herself, her face brightening with her smile, not just at the dress, but with a small bit of pride at Mal's first real use of the wand.

"Like it now?" Mal asked. Jane nodded quickly, twirling in the mirror to see the dress from every angle. Mal giggled as she watched the younger girl admire how pretty she looked. "Now, it's _your_ dress, and now, you look beautiful. Carlos isn't gonna know what hit him."

Jane squealed in glee and threw her arms around Mal, and for once, she didn't feel Mal tense up at the embrace. "Thank you, thank you so much," she said before letting Mal go. "Oh my God, you're not a drooling mess on the floor."

Mal laughed and nodded. "Told you I could handle it now. I'm gonna go put this back in Mom's room while you pick some shoes to go with that."

Jane nodded, still looking herself over in the mirror. Mal giggle as she watched and then left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: So this chapter's a little longer than normal, but I was really having some fun writing it. Also, this actually only half of how long it was supposed to be. Hopefully I'll have the second half up in the next few days, and hopefully it's as much fun to write as this chapter was. For now though, happy reading and I hope you like it.

* * *

The party was in full swing. The DJ was making sure that everyone had the right music to dance to if they wanted; and Jay and Audrey were taking full advantage of it, showing off their near perfect rhythm during the fast songs, and making a few other people feel like they should get some more practice. They also danced close during any slow songs, staring into each other's eyes as if they were the only ones in the room.

Truth be told, their display was making Ben just the tiniest bit jealous since Mal still hadn't arrived. But he shrugged it off, they were into each other, and this was probably the first time they had really been able to spend time together without having to think about titles or parents or anything else like that.

"I swear, if those two get any closer together, they might merge," Doug said from his seat on the couch that was across from the couch Ben was on.

"Leave them alone, they're having fun," Evie told him as she fed him a piece of chocolate.

"Yeah, besides, you're one to talk right now, Doug," Ben laughed at his friend. Doug shrugged and smiled off the comment because with Evie sitting on his lap, it was almost the same for him.

After feeding him his piece, Evie reached over to the table that was in between their couches and grabbed herself a piece and put it into her mouth. Her eyes closed as she savored the sweet morsel, thanking whatever possessed her to choose good over evil back at the coronation since it meant staying here in Auradon with sweets like these. The chocolates are so much better here, she thought. Of course, in her opinion, the sweetest thing in Auradon was the boy she was currently sitting on.

"We're nowhere near as close as Jay and Audrey are right now, baby," she told him with a flirty smile, "But we might get that close later."

Both Evie and Ben laughed as they watched Doug blush and swallow noticeably harder. Evie planted a quick kiss on Doug's lips, licking her own afterwards to get the taste of chocolate his had left on hers.

"So, Ben, I thought you said Mal told you she was coming?" Doug asked, trying to steer the conversation to something less awkward for him.

"She said she was, I'm just not sure when she and Jane are getting here."

Almost as if his statement was a summons, a small wind picked up around the small table followed by the appearance of two clouds of smoke, one light blue and the other purple. When the smoke quickly dissipated, Ben, Evie, and Doug, as well as the rest of the room, were finally able to see Mal and Jane standing on top of the table.

"Now _that's_ an entrance," Doug said as he shook off the shock.

"Mal," Evie shouted as she saw her friend. She jumped off Doug's lap and reached up with open arms. Mal laughed and leaned down to hug Evie.

"Hey, E," she said as they embraced. After they let go, she turned and looked at Ben. "Hey, Bennyboo, care to help a lady down?"

Ben smiled at her as she reached out her hand. Mal let out a squeal when instead of taking her hand, he placed one foot on the table and reached up, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off the table and down to the floor, her arms went around his shoulders and their lips met in a heated kiss. "Hey you," she said when they finally separated.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," he told her with another kiss, this one much quicker. "You look amazing."

"Ugh," Jane said, though she was smiling at the sight of her two friends finally seeing each other. "Doug?" she asked when she realized that she still needed to get down also.

Doug chuckled and held out his hand and helped Jane down when she took it. "Hey Jane," he told her happily, giving her a quick hug.

"Janey," Evie shouted as she practically pushed Doug out of the way to hug Jane herself. "Sorry Dougy," she said after releasing Jane. "Oh my God, you look so pretty," she told the younger girl as she held her at arm's length and took in the sight of Jane in her dress which she'd matched with a pair of blue ankle boots instead of taking Mal's offered combat boots.

"Thanks, Mal gave me the dress. It's the one you made her for her date with Ben," she said, hoping she didn't sound nervous.

"And it looks incredible on you. Did you two use a spell to change its color?"

"Mal did. She used the wand," she answered, getting a wide-eyed expression in return. Jane nodded her head in response to the unasked question of the validity of what Jane had just said. "She even said the whole 'bibbidi, bobbidi, boo' and everything. It was like watching my Mom work."

Evie squealed in excitement at the revelation that her friend was full on embracing her magical side. "You have to tell me everything going on with you two and the whole magic thing, especially since I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Practically, since I always seem to be grounded now," she said, the last part slightly shouted in Mal's direction. Mal waved her hand in Jane's direction, clearly not concerned with Jane's complaint at the moment as she and Ben were still looking longingly at each other.

"Well at least your Mom let you guys out tonight," Doug said as he and the girls sat down. Jane got a guilty look on her face at that statement and just stayed quiet. "She did let you guys out right?"

Jane shook her head slowly.

"Mal and _you_ snuck out?" Evie asked, clearly surprised at the action, albeit more in Jane's case than Mal's. Sneaking out had Mal written all over it. "Mal, you are being a totally bad influence on Jane," she shouted over to her friend, who was still ignoring anything that wasn't Ben at the moment.

"Uh-huh, no thanks, not hungry," she said as Ben whispered something in her ear and they walked off.

"And there they go," Doug said. "That wasn't even two minutes," he said, slightly upset.

"Since it was under five minutes, I believe you owe me money now," Evie laughed as she held out her hand. Doug reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins and put them in Evie's hand. Jane just looked at her, motioning to what just happened. "We had a bet on how long it would take those two to run off. Doug had ten minutes, I said less than five."

"Good call," Jane said.

"Then again, in that outfit, I don't blame him," Doug uttered. Evie turned at looked at her boyfriend, an eyebrow raised in accusation. "Well, I mean…um, I meant…she looked…," he babbled, his nerves spiking at the look Evie continued to give him. "Jane, help."

"You are your own," Jane told him.

Before Doug could continue trying to backpedal, Evie burst out laughing, her face softening and her eyes almost tearing up from her ruse. Doug just looked at her, confusion still on his face, but the fear gone from his eyes. "I'm sorry, baby, I couldn't help it," she told him, gabbing his sweater vest and pulling him in for a kiss. "Boys are so gullible," she told Jane who was now laughing with her.

"Speaking of boys, is, uh, um, Carlos here?"

Evie gave Jane a very knowing and mischievous smile. "So I guess we'll have to talk later then, huh? I suppose. I guess me and Doug can occupy ourselves since all my friends are ditching me." Jane's mouth dropped at that sentence. She was about to start saying that she was sorry when Evie once again started laughing. "I'm kidding Jane, I get it, you two are missing your boyfriends."

"Um, Carlos isn't my…"

"He will be after seeing you in that dress," Doug offered. "You do look really pretty."

Jane blushed at the compliment and tried not to begin fidgeting nervously from it. "Since he didn't know if you were coming or not, Carlos started hanging with some of the guys from the tourney team. They're over by the food tables, although, I'm pretty sure you could get him to leave them for a little alone time," Evie told Jane, a flirty smile on her face. Once again Jane blushed, this time much more noticeably before thanking Evie for telling her where to find Carlos and leaving.

"Well I guess you're stuck with just me for now," Doug said in a mock self-deprecating tone as he reached around her from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. He gave her a small kiss on the back of her neck and Evie felt her heart flutter from the simple gesture.

"That's not so bad, not when I'm with my favorite person in the world," she said as she turned and put her arms on his shoulder and around his neck. As they held each another a slow song started playing and before either of them knew it, they were slow dancing where they were standing and shortly after that, making out like nobody else was around to watch.

* * *

The Auradon Knights tourney team was lounging only a small distance away from the massive buffet tables, most of them taking full advantage of it. Carlos opted for a plate full of chocolates rather than actual food since at home Liz pretty much restricted his intake of sweets to almost nothing. A few of the guys had their girlfriends with them, but most were by themselves, like Carlos, and were just hanging with each other until deciding to go off and see who else they could hang out with.

As he was stuffing a brownie into his mouth he saw a few of the guys look behind him, their eyes slightly widening from surprise. He was just about to look himself when he heard a shy, almost mouse-like voice behind him. "Um, hi Carlos."

Carlos turned around at the sound and actually felt the breath leave his body for a second as his eyes widened. Jane was standing there, and she looked more beautiful than he ever remembered seeing her. He swallowed hard, the brownie in his mouth almost choking him from being forced down. "Carlos, don't just stand there, say hi to the pretty girl," Carlos heard Chad say from behind him. "Hi, Jane," Chad added with his trademark smile.

Jane waved at him.

"H-hi, Jane," Carlos stuttered, causing a few of the guys on the team to laugh. "You look really pretty."

"Thanks," she said, feeling her cheeks get a little warm.

"That was smooth," Chad chuckled. Carlos could feel himself blushing at the comment and hoped that the lights were dim enough that Jane couldn't see it. While he was rolling his eyes at the same time, he didn't see Jane look around him and motion for Chad to be quiet, drawing more laughs from the guys.

"W-when did you get here?" Carlos asked, still nervous, mostly from having to do this in front of the other guys on the team.

He wasn't normally shy, but he wasn't exactly the most confident person when it came to talking to girls; he knew he wasn't Jay, and he certainly wasn't Chad. In fact, when he first met Evie, it took everything he had just to talk normally and not stumble around like a kid with his first real crush. Which I pretty much was, he thought to himself.

"I got here a few minutes ago," Jane answered, nervously brushing some hair behind her ear.

"And I'm sure every eye here was on you," Chad said as he came up and stood next to Carlos. "You look lovely tonight," he complimented her, not hiding that he knew he was saying the things Carlos _should_ be saying.

"Um, thanks, Chad," Jane said, both flattered and a little off put. She hadn't planned on Chad being so assertive with her, and it left her a little confused. Sure, she found him cute, pretty much every girl at school did; but she'd never considered him her type, even now. She wagered it had something to do with the fact that his mother was Cinderella and her mother was the Fairy Godmother. They'd grown up together, and despite how attractive she _might_ find him, she always saw him as an older brother. A really obnoxious, sometimes conceited older brother. So this kind of reaction and attention was…strange to say the least.

"Carlos, don't just stand there, ask Jane if she wants to go somewhere to talk," Chad said while putting his arm around Carlos.

"Uh, Jane, do you want to go somewhere and talk?" he asked slowly, looking at Chad more than Jane.

"Look at her and ask _her_ ," Chad said under his breath. Behind them, both boys could hear the team chuckling.

"J-Jane, do you –"

"Yes," Jane said a little too quickly causing the team to break out in laughter they tried to hold back. Jane blushed at the realization of what she'd done. Good one Jane, she thought, way to make yourself look desperate.

"There you go, buddy. Now go and talk with the pretty girl," Chad smiled, a quick tap to Carlos' back, yet grabbing onto his shoulder and leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Because if you don't, I will."

Carlos' eyes widened and he quickly shrugged Chad's arm off him and grabbed Jane by the hand and led her away, also quickly. Once the two fourteen year olds were far enough away, the team, and Chad, broke out laughing loudly. A few made some lighthearted jokes, but most were just poking some minor fun at what they just seen.

"Chad, would you have really gone off with Jane?" one of the other players asked.

"No," Chad answered shaking his head. "Jane's too much like a sister. But Carlos needed the push and Jay wasn't here to do it for him."

* * *

Carlos and Jane found themselves sitting under one of the ground's larger trees where they'd spent the past half-hour talking. They found that once they were away from the prying eyes of the tourney team, and pretty much everyone else, they were able to talk more easily since the majority of their nerves were gone. Carlos still found himself stumbling every few words, but it wasn't horribly noticeable and Jane even found it cute at times. In Jane's case, she just found herself trying to keep her composure and keep from blushing too much. But as the minutes went by, they both became more comfortable and were soon talking and laughing without any uneasiness.

"So you're sure you're feeling better?" she asked him, referencing his ankle from weeks before.

"Yeah," he answered happily, stretching out his leg and moving his foot around for proof. "See, good as new. You have no clue how glad I was to be out of that medical boot."

"I can guess," She responded. "When me and Mal found out you were in the hospital you scared the crap out of us."

"Sorry about that," he told her. "And I never did say thank you for taking care of me while I was there," he said.

Jane shrugged. "You don't need to thank me," she told him. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Carlos smiled when she said that and Jane felt an immediate rush of heat hit her cheeks. Why does he have to have such a cute smile, she thought as she did her best to make sure the heat was just felt and not seen by her blushing – again. She never could seem to keep herself from blushing whenever she was around him and that usually meant she was kicking herself mentally for not being better at staying cool. Then again, she'd always had this problem with boys since she was so shy. Yet despite her shyness, she still felt an odd sense of comfort and ease around the youngest VK that even she couldn't explain.

For his part, Carlos was finding it difficult to find things to talk about. He felt like if he stopped his mind might start to wander and he'd say something stupid. Mostly though, the reason he found it difficult to find things to talk about was because all he wanted to do was tell Jane how beautiful she looked, and how much he liked her dress, and the way she did her hair…

Then again, he thought, girls do like compliments. He took a deep breath and, after having to calm himself down at the cute way she was biting her lip, he bit the bullet and just said what came to mind.

"I know I said it earlier, but, um, you look really pretty tonight," he said, sounding way more confident than he felt.

"And there you go again; I'm trying not to blush because of how cute you are and you say something like that," she blurted out, catching Carlos off guard. I knew girls were complex, but I really am out of my depth, he thought.

"Trying not to…huh?" Carlos said to her, completely confused now.

Jane's brought her hands to her face to hide her wide-mouth expression of shock, though her eyes being opened wider than most headlights gave her away. "Oh my God, I said that out loud, didn't I? Oh God! I meant to say that in my head."

Carlos watched as she buried her head in her hands and shook it, almost as if she was trying to make the past few seconds act like they never happened. "Jane?"

Finally, she took her hands off her face and took several deep breaths. "I like you," she blurted out again, this time not surprised to see how shocked Carlos looked. "I _really_ like you, and…I was hoping that tonight I might find out if you…liked me too."

Carlos sat slack-jawed, his mouth slightly opened. More on reflex than genuine thought, he nodded slowly. Even though she still looked mortified, Jane's insides were doing summersaults at his answer.

"Then if you like me, and I like you, then," she started, then seeing that Carlos was still a little dazed, "Oh screw it."

With no other words, she leaned in, grabbed Carlos by his face and kissed him. Again, operating more on reflex than thought, Carlos kissed back, their lips moving against the other's until finally they separated only because they needed to breathe.

"That was…," Carlos stammered.

"Yeah," Jane smiled, feeling her cheeks actually burning this time, and for once not caring if Carlos saw her blushing. "Wanna do it again?"

Carlos smiled, and this time he pulled Jane toward him, and before they knew, the two fourteen year olds were kissing each other like they'd wanted to for the longest time.

So glad Mal talked me into sneaking out, Jane thought, and so worth the grounding if we're caught.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: Still not done with the party, but then again, you never really want a good party to stop. I know I said I wanted them to have some fun, but we needed a little bit of drama. I hope you don't mind the temporary angst in this chapter, but I'm leading to something pretty big, and hopefully, fun with lots of feels.

Please enjoy...

* * *

The evening had moved on and soon the tempo changed from everyone moving around, getting to see each other again after some time apart, to finally stopping and catching up to those that they saw as most important. Ben and Mal were seated on a couch, with Evie and Doug on a couch of their own on one side of them and Jay and Audrey on the third couch. To the rest of the party goers it looked the king and queen, even if Mal wasn't official yet, and their court. Ben was braced against one of the couch while Mal leaned her back against him, his arm wrapped around her. Audrey was sitting on Jay's lap, her arm draped over his shoulders, one of his arms holding her at the waist. Doug was sitting on the edge of couch he and Evie were on, with Evie laying across the couch, her head in Doug's lap while he stroked her hair.

"So how've you guys been doing at your new homes?" Ben asked.

"Not too bad," Jay answered.

"It was a little touch and go there for a second, but things have gotten better," Mal said.

"It's been awesome," Evie answered happily, garnering some surprised looks from Mal and Jay. "What? Snow's been pretty cool. We talk about Mom, mostly of how Snow remembers her being before the whole fairest of them all stuff, and she's given me access to way better material than I've ever had before, so my sewing's gotten way better. She's even started teaching me to drive."

"How many cars have you wrecked?" Audrey asked, her tone bordering between being sarcastic and mockingly.

"Babe," Jay chided her. "What? It's a normal question."

"Plus Audrey's right."

"Doug," Evie whispered to him.

"Oh no, I want to hear this now," Mal laughed.

"Okay, so maybe driving isn't as easy to learn as I thought it would be," she started. "I broke the taillights of two cars because I hit the gas instead of the brake when backing up."

The entire group started laughing hysterically, causing Evie to pout. "It's not funny guys."

"Yeah it is," Jay told her.

"Dougie make them stop," she whined, though everyone could tell that she was just playfully exaggerating. Doug laughed and continued to stroke her hair, knowing it would calm her down.

"Well at least you and Snow are getting along," Audrey said genuinely happy for her. "How's Snow White's son been handling you being around?"

"Raymond loves her," Doug answered with a smile.

"I love being an aunt," Evie added, her face beaming with happiness at the thought of how much she and Ray had become friends.

"Speaking of bonding with kids, Jay has become quite the big brother," Audrey mentioned proudly. "Well you have," she told him when he looked at her like he didn't really want it announced.

"I just show them a few tourney moves and they settle down because of it," he told them in an effort to downplay his experiences this summer. When Carlos got hurt he started to spend more time with them to keep them away from Carlos so he could rest like he needed to. Once he did, he could tell why Carlos liked hanging out with them. They smart, curious, and not afraid to get into a little bit of trouble. He'd never admit it, but they reminded him of himself.

"Please," Audrey started, " _You_ were the one taking them to play tourney, and to the zoo, not to mention helping them play pranks on me whenever I'd visit," she bragged, though the last part was met with a playful swat to his shoulder.

"When it comes to those two, you either help, or you become a target. Better you than me, Foxy," he smiled. Audrey looked like she was going to say something before Jay reached in and gave her a quick kiss to stop her.

"Alright, I forgive you, _this_ time," she giggled.

"Mal, you need to spill now," Evie told her.

"Nothing much to tell, I've been pretty good about keeping you guys informed about me and Jane."

"Are you two getting along again?" Audrey asked, everyone seemingly surprised at how much she actually seemed to want to know how they were all doing; none more shocked than Mal herself.

"Yeah, we made up after the whole wand thing and we've gotten really close. It's almost like having another little sister," she smiled.

"Hey," Evie said in a fake hurt tone.

"Don't give me that look, it's not my fault that you two are younger than me."

"I'm younger by two weeks, and she never lets me forget it," Evie said as she looked up at Doug for help.

"Don't forget, I'm older than you too," he said to her with a stroke of her cheek.

"Me too," said Jay.

"And me," Audrey added.

All four of them began to laugh, hard, but just enough to annoy the almost royal bluenettte. "Well at least Ben's younger than me."

"True, but I'm okay with it," he smiled. "And besides, _we're_ not the youngest ones here, remember."

"Yeah, where are Carlos and Jane," Doug asked.

"They should be here," Jay answered checking his phone. "I texted him that we were all meeting here."

"And I texted Jane," Mal added. Suddenly she had an idea and her eyes widened. "You know what, does anyone have some water?"

They all shook their heads. "Seriously? I need it for a spell."

Evie's eyes widened in glee and she leaped off of Doug and ran off toward the food tables. She came back with a bottle of water just a few seconds later. "Is this enough, M?"

"Perfect, thanks," she answered clearing the table. "Okay guys, help me clear this table," she instructed as she began removing her and Ben's cups. Soon the rest did as they'd been told and the table was void of any obstructions. In all honesty, everyone was actually pretty excited to see Mal put to use the lessons she'd been given.

"Alright, now this is the first time I've done this without Fairy Godmother's help, but…" she trailed off as she began to pour the water onto the center of the table and began reciting the proper spell. "Not here to be seen, lost from my sight, show me who I desire, where are they this night."

Everyone watched as the water on the table began to swirl around and then spread until it covered the entire table. The water then began to glow and eventually it started to become an image of Jane and Carlos still under their tree, this time with Carlos laying under it, and Jane on top of him, the two of them making out.

"Woah," Doug let out, not knowing which surprised him more, Mal's successful spell, or what he was seeing from Jane and Carlos.

"Oh my God, yes," Evie squealed.

"Awww," Audrey said at the same time.

Jay just smiled and nodded his head while Ben just smiled and hugged Mal to him. "Good job, babe," he whispered into her ear. She smiled back and turned to kiss him quickly.

"I knew those two would get together," Evie said happily.

"It's about time too," Mal said. "I was getting tired of her constantly asking for advice on how to get a boy to like her. I don't do relationship advice; I mean do I look like Evie?" she asked the group. "Well, now that we know where they are, we should leave them alone," he said as she waved her hand over the table and the image disappeared.

* * *

Jane and Carlos were under the tree, happily kissing each other, not caring about anything else. They'd each spent so much time dreaming about a moment like this and they were taking full advantage of it. They didn't know how long they'd been out there, and truthfully, they didn't care. That was why they didn't hear the footsteps approaching.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Little Plane Jane," came a condescending voice.

Jane and Carlos stopped what they were doing and looked up.

"Oh great," Jane said in disappointment.

"What's going on?" Carlos asked as he sat up after Jane got off him and sat next to him. When he looked up he saw three girls; one dressed in red who was slightly taller than the other two, another in green who was almost as tall as the one in red, but much thinner making her look lankier, and the last in blue who was shorter, but still taller than Jane, and slightly chubbier than the other two. All looked to be their age or maybe a year older, and all three were wearing somewhat evil smirks.

"Hi, Carlos," all three said at the same time.

"Hi," he said nervously. He looked at Jane for some help on who they were.

"Don't just sit there, Janey, introduce us to your…boyfriend," said the one in red, a patronizing look on her face to match her tone. Carlos also noticed the way she snickered just before saying boyfriend. The other two laughed at what their leader said.

Carlos looked back at Jane and noticed that she looked almost afraid. For her part, Jane was just wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her whole since she really didn't want to go through what she knew was going to happen.

"Janey, don't be rude," said the one in green.

"Yeah Jane, start talking," the one in blue finished, her tone going mean at the end.

"Jane?" Carlos asked, concerned over how Jane looked like she was fidgeting now.

"C-Carlos, meet, Arborary, Animalia, and Mistywind," she introduced the girls wearing red, green, and blue respectively. "The daughters of the Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather," she said sheepishly.

"You're the daughter of the three _good_ fairies?" They nodded. "How do you know my name?" he asked, knowing that he'd never actually met them.

"We're big fans of the tourney team," Arborary answered almost sweetly.

"Though obviously not as big a fan as Jane here," Mistywind said as she looked at Jane. "Nice to see you showing some team spirit."

Arborary and Animalia laughed. "She's definitely working on keeping Carlos' morale up," Animalia added causing all three girls to start laughing.

"Carlos, can we go somewhere else?" Jane whispered to him, hoping that the others hadn't heard her.

She wasn't that lucky. "Aw, she wants to leave," Arborary said, mock hurt in her voice, to her other two friends. "I think you should stay Plain Jane."

Carlos picked himself off the ground and then pulled Jane up with him. "If Jane wants to leave, we're going to –"

Carlos didn't finish since Animalia caused her wand to appear in her hand and waved it at him. he opened his mouth to continue speaking, but nothing came out. He looked to Jane for help and saw her frozen in place.

"That's better, no need to have him interrupting us," Arborary said as Animalia twirled her wand in her hand.

"L-leave him alone," Jane said, her voice louder than when she pleaded to Carlos, but still sounding small.

"Look, Jane the Whiner's sticking up for her boyfriend," Animalia said.

"Don't call me that," Jane said, stepping closer to the group of girls. She received a shove from Mistywind that was hard enough to knock her to the ground for her trouble. Carlos immediately reached down to pick Jane up, only have Arborary pull her wand and wave it at the ground. Jane watched as vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped themselves around Carlos' arms and legs, holding him in place.

"This is between us, and the powerless Halfling," she said. "After all, unlike some mothers, ours taught us how to use our powers."

"So…so did mine," Jane stammered.

'Oh really? Show us something," Arborary dared.

Oh crap, why did I say that, she thought.

"Yeah, Jane, dazzle us," Animalia added.

"Personally, I think you're all talk," Mistywind taunted.

Jane closed her eyes and begged for help in her mind. She just hoped that Mal was close enough to hear her. "What, are you gonna cry now, Plain Jane?" Arborary teased. "Then again, what do you expect from the daughter of a traitor to her own kind.

"Screw you," Jane shouted as she leapt off the ground and pushed her hand towards the three trouble causing fairies. Now Carlos watched as the three of them went flying back about five feet, landing hard on the ground.

I did it, she thought with a smile. Her smile faded as she saw the three of them get up and look at her with pure anger in their eyes. Oh crap, I did it. She closed her eyes again and thought…

 _Mal help_.

* * *

The rest of Jane and Carlos' friends were back at their couches, laughing at one of the stories they'd told about their summer so far. As Mal was taking a quick drink she felt a rush of fear come over her and she shivered where she sat. Everyone noticed and began looking at her with concern.

"Mal are you alright?" Ben ask as she moved closer to her.

"Um, yeah, I just had this weird feeling come over me. Almost like…"

 _Mal help_.

Mal shivered again, this time almost knocking Ben away from her with how hard she shook. "Jane," she gasped as she grabbed the bottle of water from earlier and poured what was left onto the table while reciting the spell. As the water spread and they waited for the image, everyone crowded around to see what would appear.

Eventually the image cleared and the group watched in shock as they saw Carlos being held by vines while Jane had been backed up against a tree, three girls in blue, red, and green cornering her, wands in their hands, all pointed at Jane.

"Who are they?" Mal asked, her voice even, but still showing her growing anger.

"The daughters of the Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather," Ben answered. "Three of the worst people you could ever hope to meet."

"Yeah," Doug said, his voice growing concerned. "Not as strong as their mothers, but pretty powerful, and their not afraid to use their powers to bully people."

"And they love to bully Jane most of all," Audrey added, actually feeling sorry for Jane.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Mal said angrily, her eyes glowing green for a second. She got up from the couch and started walking toward the palace grounds. "E," she commanded, knowing that Evie wouldn't need to hear anything else.

"Right behind you," Evie said, the same angered determination in her voice as she got up and followed behind Mal.

"Oh, I am not missing this," Audrey said as she got off Jay's lap and went after the other VK girls. After a few steps, she turned back toward the group, "Aren't you coming?"


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on, Janey," Arborary said menacingly, "try that again."

Jane looked at all three girls, their wands out, all pointed at her, and felt a sense of dread come over her.

"Yeah," Animalia and Mistywind added, sounding like parrots on Arborary's shoulders.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Jane asked, her voice quaking slightly, but still calm, doing her best not to give her three bullies the satisfaction of knowing how much they were scaring her.

"If you hadn't knocked us on our asses, we might've let you and boyfriend walk away, but we aren't fans of laying down for halflings who barely know how to use their powers."

"I know how to use them now," Jane fired back. The trio laughed.

"What? Did your mommy decide to teach you?"

"Not just her," came an approaching voice.

Arborary, Animalia, and Mistywind all turned and saw Mal charging toward them. Upon closer inspection, they could see Evie right behind her. "Oh great, another halfl-"

Before Arboray could finish, Mal waved her hand and sent the trio flying to the ground. What the hell, is it ruin my dress day, Arborary asked herself. As she and her friends shake off the fall, they look up and see Mal and Evie standing between them and Jane like angered attack dogs. They were followed shortly by Ben, Jay, Doug, and Audrey.

"Well if it isn't Maleficent's offspring," Aborary chuckled as she and her friends lifted themselves from the ground. "I don't know if you know this, but this little talk is between us and Jane."

"No, we're between you and Jane," Evie corrected.

"It's Evie, right?" Evie nodded. "I suggest you don't get involved, because last time I checked, you don't have the power to keep this fair," Arborary tried to intimidate.

"I can hold my own," Evie smiled.

The trio stared at Mal and Evie, surprised that they weren't running. It was something the three of them weren't used to, at least not once they pulled their wands. As each one of the good fairies daughter's looked over the two VKs, they were a little concerned. They were tough; they knew that about themselves, but now it looked like they might _actually_ have to prove it.

As de facto leader, Arborary was thinking for an out for the first time ever. The problem was she couldn't think of anything that didn't make her and her friends look weak, and fairies, at least pure blood fairies like them, weren't weak. Thankfully, before she completely ran out of ideas that didn't involve running away scared or starting an actual fight, an exit presented itself.

"Alright, why don't we all just take a step back and breathe," Ben interjected as he stepped between the two groups of girls. "This doesn't have to go any further that it already has."

"I completely agree," Arborary said as she magically put away her wand. She motioned for Animalia and Mistywind to do the same. "Bygones and all that; in fact, Janey, apology accepted."

"Apology?" Jane shouted. "You came after me."

" _You_ knocked us to the ground," Animalia said sweetly.

"You three insulted my mother."

"You did what?" Mal blurted out. Jane told them what the trio had said, and Mal felt herself fill with anger. She turned back toward them, her eyes glowing green and ready to shoot daggers. "Give me one good reason not to –"

"Mal, calm down," Ben interrupted, putting himself in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, fully prepared to hold his girlfriend back.

"Calm down?"

"Fairy Godmother would not want you fighting because of her. And she would let this go as well, so you should too."

Mal leaned over and looked at the trio. "Let Carlos loose – now."

Arborary snapped her fingers and the vines released their hold and receded back into the ground. "His voice, too," Jane said.

Animalia snapped her fingers and Carlos opened his mouth to speak. "How are you three the daughters of the _good_ fairies!"

"Just born lucky," Mistywind answered.

"Well, all's settled, so let's go girls," Arborary said sweetly. The three of them began to leave.

"Wait one second," Mal called to them.

"Mal," Ben said.

"It's okay, baby, I'm not gonna hurt them," she told him, although she almost reconsidered when she heard them snicker. She grabbed Jane by the hand and had her walk with her up to them. "The next time you want to mess with Jane, I want you three to remember that that means you're messing with both of us. And while I'm sure that right now, you three might better trained than me and Jane, I want to remind you that she's the daughter of the Fairy Godmother. I'm the daughter of Maleficent. The two most powerful fairies in the world; even more powerful than your mothers. We might not be as well trained – yet – but I bet on raw power alone, we'll send you three crying home after we spank you."

Arborary looked between her two friends and smiled haughtily. "Toodles…rookies." All three of them began laughing as they walked away.

"Let me know if you want to date a _real_ fairy, Carlos," Mistywind said looking back over her shoulder.

Jane's anger came rushing back when she heard that and decided that Ben's mediation wasn't going to stop her. "Beware, forswear, replace the old with _no_ hair."

"Jane don't," Ben shouted, but it was too late. He, along with Mal, Carlos, Jay and Audrey, and Doug and Evie watched as the heads of the trio began to have swirling lights orbit around them before a final bright flash occurred. When the light show ended, the assembled group gazed upon and, in the ccase of a few of them, let out giggles that they really did try to hold back, the sight of Arborary, Animalia, and Mistywind – now bald.

The three of them screamed and ran their hands over there smooth scalps. They looked at each other and their loud screams became even shriller. "What did you do you little bitch?" Arborary screamed at Jane.

"I think you can tell," Jane fired back. Mal finally let out the laugh she'd been holding in.

Arborary raised her hand and her wand appeared. The next thing Jane and Mal knew they were pressed up against the tree, even more vines than were used to hold Carlos sprouting and wrapping themselves Jane and Mal, binding them to the tree's trunk.

"Hey," Ben cried, charging forward, Jay and Evie along with him. They stopped in their tracks as Animalia and Mistywind called their wands and aimed at them. Mistywind shook her head angrily.

 _Mom help_.

"Any last words before I have Ani here turn you two into frogs?" Arborary asked.

Before they could answer, all the trio felt an intense heat come over their wands and groaned in pain as it finally burned their hands. They dropped the wands and watched in personal horror as the wands then burst into flames.

"Our wands," screamed Arborary. She looked back at Jane and Mal and walked until she was practically standing between them. "Which one of you did that?"

"I did actually," came a voice from behind them.

Almost instantly the trio's eyes widened in fear, and then they closed as their heads fell, each one praying the voice they heard wasn't actually the voice they heard. When they turned, they realized that their luck had run out as they stared at the Fairy Godmother standing before them, her usual smile gone, replaced by a look of anger.

"Fairy Godmother," Arborary gasped, sounding as if she was struggling to breathe. "How are you this –"

Arborary stopped when Fairy Godmother held up her finger. "You three," she pointed at the trio, all of them holding up their hands in defense, "stand over here," she instructed as she pointed at a spot separate from everyone else. They moved without question, their heads hung in dread.

Fairy Godmother then turned back to Jane and Mal, and made her wand appear. With perfected flourish, she waved it at them and the vines simply disappeared. "You two, with your friends," she ordered. Mal and Jane did as she asked, also without question. She began looking between Arborary, Animalia, and Mistywind, and then looked between Jane and Mal. "You and you," she said, pointing at Jane and Animalia, "come with me."

The assembled group of teens watched as Fairy Godmother marched Jane and Animalia away from the fray and began talking. Eventually they realized that she was making them tell her what happened. She'd chosen Jane because she knew Jane wouldn't lie to her, and she'd chosen Animalia since she was essentially the _least_ likely to lie to her. After a few minutes, the three of them returned with Jane and Animalia rejoining their respective group.

"I will be paying visits to each of your mother's tomorrow to discuss how you should be punished for this. Until I do, you will three will stay at your own homes, am I clear?" The trio nodded. "I said: am I clear?"

"Yes," they said in unison. She raised her eyebrows at them. "Yes ma'am," they corrected themselves.

She raised her left hand, but before she could do anything, Arborary raised her hand like a scared student in class. "Yes?"

She looked between her friends and then back at Fairy Godmother as she lowered her hand. "W-what about our hair?"

"I will put it back after I speak with your mothers. And just to make sure that they don't see fit to put it back themselves," she trailed off, and the she waved her wand at them and once again their heads glowed. "Now, once again, stay at home until I arrive," she instructed before snapping her fingers and sending all three back to their respective homes.

She then turned to Mal and Jane and their friends. She looked over at the others. "You all may stay until whatever curfews have been set for you," she told them, her voice level, but still not hiding her anger. "But you two young ladies," she said turning her attention to Jane and Mal, "you are coming home with me right now."

They nodded, and like the trio before them, got a raised eyebrow. "Yes ma'am."


	11. Chapter 11

"So how much trouble do you think Mal and Jane are in?" Audrey asked as she and Jay sat in the Jenkins's backyard on one of the lounge chairs after the party, Audrey lying across Jay, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Jay snickered, his characteristic crooked grin appearing on his face. He didn't want to think about how much trouble those two would be facing, or the punishment that would definitely be going along with it. What he wanted to think about was the beautiful brunette he was currently holding.

"Well?" Audrey asked again.

"Do you really want to talk about that?"

"Yes, especially since, if anything, they should get some consideration over the fact that they were defending themselves," she told him.

"Something tells me that Fairy Godmother isn't going to be too upset about that," he replied. "She's probably gonna be more pissed about them sneaking out – again. Why such an interest in them?"

"Can't a girl worry about her friends?"

Jay looked at her in slight skepticism. " _Friends_? Are we talking Jane _and_ Mal?" Audrey stiffened in Jay's grasp and her expression turned almost sour. "What?"

"Even after all the things I've done to become their friends, and the fact that we _do_ get along, what; I'm still just Auradon's stuck up pink princess?" Jay looked at her guiltily. "Didn't think I knew people called me that behind my back?"

Jay stayed quiet. One thing he'd learned quickly about Audrey was sometimes it was better to just let her do all the talking, get over her anger, and only talk when she insisted. "Did you ever call me that?"

Although there are times when talking, even when she insists is still the way wrong thing to do, he thought.

"Oh my God, you did?"

He stayed quiet again. He was debating answering the question because as much as he knew he'd make her angrier, he wanted to be honest with her. But he also knew that an angry Audrey was an Audrey he preferred to not deal with because she tended to reveal her less than ladylike traits. Finally, he hoped that in the end, angry or not, she'd eventually forgive him for being honest. "Like once, when I was letting Mal vent about you."

Audrey felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She was never naïve about how people felt about her. Sure, she put up the front that everybody loved her since she was Sleeping Beauty's daughter, but she wasn't blind. She knew that there were those that didn't like her, whether it was genuine or just jealousy, it didn't matter, it never bothered her. Even now, with her trying to be nicer all around, it still never bothered her if someone claimed to dislike her in the past.

But Jay's admission struck a nerve. She'd genuinely come to value his opinion because he seemed to not care that she was princess, or about all the privilege that came with it. When they were together, he saw her, not the clothes or the makeup or the crown. And she was finally, after almost four months together, able to say that she was doing the same. When she looked at him, she didn't see the street clothes or the cocky bravado or even the Isle anymore. She just saw her boyfriend.

Before she could stop it, she felt tears welling.

"Babe, it was before we got together," Jay told her.

"I know, and I get it. I've bashed people when talking to friends whenever they were venting, so I understand," she whimpered, trying her hardest to hold back her tears. "But it…"

Audrey was interrupted by a knocking sound. The couple sat up and looked back toward the house. Liz was standing at the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but Audrey's ride is here."

"Thanks, Liz," Jay sighed.

Audrey got off of Jay and began making her way to toward the house. Liz could immediately see a difference in the girl from when she, Jay, and Carlos arrived. "Are you alright, sweetie?"

Audrey nodded. "Thank you for letting me stay so late, Mrs. Jenkins, I know it was a small inconvenience."

"You're welcome here anytime sweetheart," Liz told her.

Audrey simply nodded again. She then turned back to Jay who was still standing next to the lounge chair. "I'll…I'll call you tomorrow," she told him quickly.

"Sure," he responded, his voice full of doubt.

With no further words, Audrey walked away, Jay watching as she disappeared into the house, Liz following behind her. He let out a deep breath and ran his hands through his long hair. He turned and sat back on the lounge chair and just stared up at the night sky. Minutes later, after having seen Audrey out, Liz came and sat on one of the other loungers next to Jay. "Want to tell me what happened?"

No I do not, he thought. But against his instincts he began to tell Liz about the past few minutes. She could clearly see that Jay was upset, and not just about the end of the evening being ruined, but about actually hurting Audrey. She felt sad for him since she knew that something like this was probably new for him. She didn't doubt that he'd had other girlfriends before, but she figured he was able to move passed them quickly if the need arose. But Audrey was different for him, especially since she could tell that he was starting to feel deeper feelings than just your average teenage couples. And for that reason she was hoped that he – they – could makeup from this because Audrey was just starting to bring out a maturity in him that she hadn't seen when he first moved in.

"Give her some time, Jay. She's not upset at what was said, but because of who was saying it." Jay looked over at Liz confused. "Just like you're starting to have really strong feeling for her," Liz began, holding up her hand to silence Jay when it looked like he was going to interrupt her. "Don't deny it, I can tell. Just like you, she's probably starting to feel something more, and hearing the person she's having those feeling for admit that at one time, he felt something other than…affection, it hurt."

"Think I can fix this?"

"Yes," she told him soothingly. "In fact you better," she added, her voice changing just slightly. "Because I like that girl, she brings out your best."

Jay smiled, not saying it out loud, but agreeing with Liz completely.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check on the twins, make sure they're still asleep, and then grill Carlos about Jane," she laughed.

Jay let out a small chuckle as Liz got up and walked back into the house, leaving him to his thoughts.

* * *

"Just what were you girls thinking? Sneaking out and then getting into a fight, and with those three of all people!" Fairy Godmother ranted at Mal and Jane as she stood before them while they sat on the couch. "Well?" They stayed quiet, neither of them particularly eager to answer first. "I expect someone to answer."

"Those three bit...girls, we're picking on Jane. I wanted to show them that no one gets to do that but me...and maybe Evie," Mal spoke up.

"Aww," Jane gushed, a huge smile splitting her face and her eyes lighting up. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, J."

"Focus girls," Fairy Godmother interrupted. "First, I want to know whose idea it was to sneak out and go to a party you knew you weren't allowed to go to since you were both grounded?"

Mal and Jane looked at each other, their hearts beating quickly in the face of Fairy Godmother's anticipated ire. "I'm waiting."

Mal swallowed hard and closed her eyes. Living here's made me soft, she thought as she let out a reflecting sigh. She closed her eyes and was about to speak when suddenly...

"It was mine," Jane lied.

"Yours?" Fairy Godmother asked in disbelief. Jane nodded sheepishly. Fairy Godmother looked back at Mal, suspicion written all over her face. "Mal?"

"I...I just wanted to…"

"Jane's lying," Mal cut in, her face lowered, but her eyes looking up at the Fairy Godmother. " _I_ was the one who decided that we were going to go. _I_ was the one who convinced Jane."

"Janey, is this true?"

Jane nodded.

"I hope you two know that I'm very disappointed right now. Sneaking out a second time, and fighting."

"They started it," Jane said.

"I understand that, and I'll deal with them tomorrow since I know their mothers will probably, once again believe whatever they tell them. But right now, I'm dealing with you two. You're both grounded, even more, for sneaking out and fighting – three weeks."

"Three weeks!" they both shouted.

"But that basically the rest of summer," Jane whined.

"No going out unless I'm with you or unless I give you permission. Phone use only within the house since texting will be the only way you'll get keep in touch with friends. And speaking of which," Fairy Godmother continued, her gaze now strictly on Mal. "King or not, no going out with your boyfriend."

"That's fair," Jane whimpered. What, Mal thought, oh hell no. Mal then raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Jane needs that same restriction."

"Mal, shut up," Jane whispered while kicking Mal's leg.

"Excuse me?"

Mal smiled. "I am not the only one with a boyfriend, now."

Fairy Godmother looked back and forth between her girls. Jane looked mortified while Mal looked almost proud. "Jane, what is she talking about?"

"Well…Mom," Jane began slowly, not sure how to tell her without it sounding like a big deal. "I…me and…"

"J and Carlos pretty much got together tonight," Mal blurted out.

Despite still being angry over the whole series of events, Fairy Godmother's eyes widened as much as her smile. "Do you finally have your first boyfriend?" she asked excitedly.

"Oh my god," Jane groaned as she let her head fall. "This is so not happening."

"Janey, I'm not upset, obviously, I just wish you'd picked a better time to get one since I now have to amend my restriction," she explained, though she was still happy for Jane. While she wasn't thrilled at the idea of Jane dating, she at least made a good choice in boyfriends since she had to admit to having a soft spot for Carlos as well. "No boyfriends – plural – for either of you. Am I clear girls?"

"Yes Mom," they both answered, Fairy Godmother once again smiling at Mal's slip of the tongue.

As they got up to go to their rooms Jane looked back at her mother. "By the way, how did you know we were in trouble?"

"Mal called me," she answered, causing Mal's eyes to widen in fear. Luckily for her, Jane didn't press the answer and simply left to go to bed.

Once she was gone, Mal, who had lagged behind, faced Fairy Godmother. "Yes, Mal?"

"You're not going to tell Jane _how_ I called you are you?"

Fairy Godmother smiled softly.

"You mean how you called me Mom?" Mal swallowed hard, and, looking away, nodded. Fairy Godmother walked over and hugged Mal, almost becoming misty-eyed when Mal hugged back, fairly tight. "Don't worry sweetie, I won't tell unless you let me."

"Thank you," Mal said, Fairy godmother noting that Mal's voice sounded muddled, like tears were getting in the way. Mal quickly let go and made her way off to her room, but not before Fairy Godmother caught a glimpse of Mal wiping away a tear.

She then walked over to the doorway and stared in the direction of the girls' bedrooms. Both of their doors were shut. "Good night girls."


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: Okay, so this chapter wasn't planned, but one of the comments on the previous chapter made a mention about how embarrassing a Liz/Carlos conversation about what happened between him and Jane might be. I thought it sounded like fun and couldn't resist. Please enjoy this impromptu chapter.

* * *

Carlos was laying on his bed, playing a game on his phone, trying to wind down from the night's earlier events. Surprisingly, his mind wasn't on the altercation between Jane and the daughters of the three good fairies, but instead on what was happening right before it. He couldn't stop thinking about that first kiss with Jane. He smiled as he thought back to what her lips felt like, and the smell of her perfume, and the way she giggled every time they came up for air during their make out session.

"I hope that smile means you had a good time tonight," he heard Liz from the door. He looked up and saw her standing against the door frame, a knowing smile on her face. "Well?" She prodded when he didn't say anything.

"It wasn't horrible," he responded, putting down his phone.

Boys, she mused to herself, always so guarded. "Was Jane there?"

"You know she was since Audrey told you."

Liz smiled playfully. "She also said Jane was the reason you were smiling so much when you all got back."

Freaking Audrey, Carlos thought. There were times, like tonight, when he wished Audrey still acted like she didn't see him. But no, ever since she started dating his best friend, she'd been making an effort to be nicer to him, Evie, and Mal, but him especially. In theory, it wasn't a bad idea, but when she goes and blabs to the parents that he and Jane wandered off alone together, well, he suddenly wished Jay had dated someone else.

Liz walked into the room and sat across from him on Jay's bed. "Carlos, sweetie," she started softly, the mischievous grin gone and her normal, maternal demeanor back for the moment. "I just want to make sure that you're dating a nice girl."

Carlos rolled his eyes. Oh my god, first Evie at the hospital, then Mal and Audrey, when I got out of the hospital, and then Liz when I got home that day on top of right now. Is every woman in my life making her business to have me start dating Jane, he thought. Then again, it's not like I don't actually _want_ to, he admitted to himself.

"If I _was_ dating Jane, you wouldn't have to worry about her being anything but nice."

"So something did happen didn't it?" Liz asked hopefully. Carlos groaned and rubbed his temples in frustration. "Did you kiss her?" Another groan. "Did _she_ kiss _you_?"

"Oh my God this is so not happening?"

"Did you two profess your undying love for each other?" She smiled, holding back her laughter.

"Babe, leave the boy alone," he heard Coach from the door. Thank you God, Carlos said to himself, relieved to finally have some help.

"I'm just seeing how his night went," Liz said in defense.

"And if he wants to tell you, he will," Coach admonished good naturedly. "But right now, he probably just wants to go to bed, right Carlos?" Coach said with a wink to let Carlos know to play along.

"Uh...yeah," he agreed.

"Oh, alright," Liz relented getting up from Jay's bed. "But don't think that we're done," she told Carlos as she made her way toward the door. "You and I _will_ be talking about this."

Carlos gave her small salute and with that she walked out of his room. "Thanks for the save."

"Save? That was a reprieve. That woman is relentless, and if she wants to find out something, she's not going to stop until she does," Coach explained. "My advice just tell what she wants to know, and let her start planning on meeting your first girlfriend," he finished as he walked away as well.

"Jane isn't my," he started to shout after the Coach, but stopped and took stock of everything that went on at the party, mostly the making out. "Ah hell, who am I kidding, she _is_ my girlfriend."

As much as he knew he was going to have to bite the bullet and tell Liz like Coach said, he was still smiling, and he couldn't seem to stop. "Jane's my girlfriend," he said out loud and found that it didn't sound as weird as he thought it might.

* * *

With the party over, the only ones left at the palace were Ben, Evie, and Doug. The staff was taking care of cleaning up the room they'd used, so the three of them had moved things out to the gardens. They were currently sitting around a fire pit that had been set up, the heat surprisingly not feeling overwhelming.

"It was a great part up until those three little b-"

"Evie," Doug stopped her.

"Well they are," she stressed.

"Please be nice Evie," Ben asked.

"I suppose," Evie sighed. "Has she texted you?" she asked Ben, all three of them knowing she was talking about Mal.

"Not yet," he answered. He quickly typed in another text asking if she was okay and not in too much trouble and then set it down next to him.

As he saw Evie and Doug smiling at each other, he felt more like a third wheel than ever. After Fairy Godmother had taken Mal and Jane home, he went back to the party, but found he wasn't having any more fun. The whole point of tonight was to have Mal over, and that plan was pretty much ripped to shreds. As he was starting to lose himself in his thoughts, he heard his phone chirp and quickly moved to grab it. He smiled as he saw that it was finally a text from, Mal.

 _Mal: Im fine bennyboo. Just grounded even longer now_

 _Ben: ?_

 _Mal: End of summer_

 _Ben: Im sorry. Will she let u out all?_

 _Mal: Nope. No going out unless she's w/me. No TV. Txting all I can do & its only home. _

_Mal: … & no seeing my cut kingly boyfriend. Jane too_

 _Ben: Jane's dating a king too?_

 _Mal: LOL! Now be serious_

 _Ben: We can handle three weeks as long as we can txt._

 _Mal: I haven't seen u all summer. Cant u make some royal decree? Royal girlfriends are exempt from punishment or something._

 _Ben: U know cant. But I can keep talking to u tonite_

"Hey guys," he called over to Evie and Doug. "I'm gonna go ahead and take it inside, keep messaging Mal. You two going to be alright?"

They both nodded, and watched the young king leave.

"Alone at last," Evie said in a sing song tone once Ben was gone. "Whatever shall we do?"


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: This update took a little longer than normal, but I've been busy with real life. Mostly I was sick, and I've been working to try and earn some extra cash for tickets to my city's Comic Con. However, updates should start coming more often for this, and all my other stories. Although I should mention, I'm actually very close to finishing this story, though I have been toying with the idea for a sequel. Let me know if this something you all would like to see.

* * *

It had been a week since Ben's party. Things had once again settled into their normal summer routine. Going to bed late. Sleeping in even later. And in the case of Mal and Jane, that meant hanging around the house, bored due to being grounded. Their days were routinely limited to waking up, maybe arguing over the bathroom if they woke around the same time, breakfast, chores, magic lessons, more chores, and then sitting around, texting their friends, boyfriends, or hanging out with each other.

Now, they'd never admit it, but being grounded was probably one of the best things that happened to them in regards to their relationship to each other. Spending so much time together had made them have to learn about each other. By the time that that first week was over, they well on their way to having the same type of bond with each other that Mal had with Evie; a fact that made their blue-haired girl practically squeal with glee on her end of the texts.

Right now, they were sharing that bond with their boyfriends who had come over earlier to see them. It was a shock to both girls, as neither knew that they were coming, and despite what Fairy Godmother had asked them, they hadn't asked them to come over either. Fairy Godmother was inclined to believe her girls however since the boys hadn't come alone.

"I know what you two are doing?" Fairy Godmother said as took a sip of her drink as she, Belle, and Liz sat out on the patio, having drinks together.

Liz and Belle just looked at her, both of them smiling knowingly. They eventually averted their gaze and looked at each other.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Liz countered.

"I'm just here to chat with friends," Belle added. "And to find out how the kids have been doing since moving in."

"Uh-huh, which I would believe if you hadn't brought Ben with you," Fairy Godmother told Belle before looking over to Liz. "Or Carlos in your case."

"Some sons do like spending time with their mothers," Liz said in her defense. Belle smiled as she listened to Liz call Carlos her son and herself his mother. She loved seeing how closer she'd gotten with him, and probably Jay as well. Even Fairy Godmother let a smile break through her serious expression for the moment.

"I'm sure they do," Fairy Godmother chuckled, Liz's words cracking her shell. "Especially when those mothers are visiting the house where their girlfriends live. Girlfriends they can't see since said girls are grounded."

Belle took a sip of her own drink and then wiped her mouth. "You know I forgot that Mal and Jane were grounded. Did you remember that?" she asked Liz.

Liz shook her head. "Totally slipped my mind."

Fairy Godmother let out another chuckle and decided to drop the annoyed host act. "What happened? Did the boys start moping around the house all day?"

Belle let out a small smirk. "Not moping, but Ben has been distracted."

"Carlos is moping," Liz said bluntly. After a short pause, the three mothers began laughing. "Okay, so maybe moping is too strong a word, but he does get a little down after texting with her since he can't see her. Apparently, she's his first girlfriend," she smiled.

"He's Jane's first boyfriend, too," Fairy Godmothers revealed to her guests. "It's actually kind of adorable seeing her walk around here with that look of puppy love on her face.

Both Belle and Liz found themselves "awing" at that news. It was in that atmosphere that Belle felt comfortable revealing a little thing about Mal. "I visited Snow White earlier last week, and Evie told me that despite how at ease Mal is now with their relationship, she was nervous the first time Ben asked her out; evidently, Ben is Mal's first boyfriend.

"Which explains why Mal hated giving Jane advice, she was new to whole relationship thing herself," Fairy Godmother chuckled.

"Never would've guessed a girl as beautiful as her had never had a boyfriend," Liz added.

Belle nodded. "Evie was the one who dated more."

"That's not surprising at all," Fairy Godmother said.

There was a little more small talk made after that, but after a few more minutes, Belle revealed the reason for her visit.

"Okay, now I know that me and Liz did _bent_ the 'no boyfriends rule' by bringing our boys here, but I had an ulterior motive for bringing Liz by," she said seriously. "I mentioned visiting Snow earlier in the week, and I did that because I knew she'd be too busy to make this impromptu meeting, but I want to ask the same thing of you that I asked of her; how have the kids been adjusting?" Belle asked.

"Really well," Liz answered first. "It was touch and go there at the start, but things have gotten better."

"Touch and go?" Belle asked.

Liz took a deep breath and both Belle and Fairy Godmother noticed she got a look on her face that they couldn't place. It was somewhere between regret and realization.

"I won't lie, when this started, I wasn't thrilled. Sam sprung this on me so suddenly, and the twins were already such a handful. Not to mention the house we lived in was so small," she explained.

"I'm sensing a but in there," Fairy Godmother said.

"But honestly, I was actually a little afraid."

"Afraid?" Belle asked in disbelief.

Liz nodded. It wasn't something she was proud to be admitting, but, in the company of these fellow mothers, she felt she should be honest. "They were the sons of villains. I didn't know what kind of children they were. Would they be trouble? What kind of influence would they have over my twins?"

Liz paused after revelation. Belle and Fairy Godmother stayed silent as well, feeling like Liz needed to get more off her chest. Liz took a drink before continuing.

"Now...now I can't imagine them not being in our lives. I mean sure they brought some issues with them. Carlos definitely has some rejection issues and Jay; well, Jay had problems with attachment, but I think they've come to grips with the fact that they're somewhere where those issues aren't handicaps. And that it didn't make them weak for admitting to it."

Both Belle and Fairy Godmother had beaming smiles as they listened to Liz to talk about the boys. Liz felt herself smiling from ear to ear as she talked about Jay and Carlos. She hadn't actually said it out loud, but she knew now that she, or Coach Jenkins, would have no problem calling them their boys now.

"And what about you?" Belle asked happily, hoping that Fairy Godmother's response would be just as good. She already had a few specifics from their talks, but hadn't had the chance to check up her recently.

"Well you know how the girls had a little trouble adjusting to each other at first, right?"

Belle nodded.

"The boys mentioned a few things to me and Sam, but they didn't go into specifics. I remember them saying something about Jane turning Mal into a rabbit?" Liz interjected.

Fairy Godmother shook her head. "No, Mal turned Jane into a rabbit. And she did that because Jane made her bald."

Belle and Liz laughed at that news. "What is it with Jane and her taking away people's hair?" Liz asked.

"I think it's because she's always felt like her hair never looked as good all the other girl's did," Fairy Godmother answered her.

"I'm sure Carlos would tell her otherwise," Liz remarked. Fairy Godmother agreed with her, thinking that maybe Jane just needed to hear about all the good things about herself from someone who wasn't her mother since Jane probably felt that she was just saying those things because all mother's said them.

"Hopefully he does," Fairy Godmother told Liz. "Moving on however," she said, and proceeded to tell the other two about how for the most part Mal and Jane did get along. Both of them teared up a little as they listened to the sadness in Fairy Godmother's voice as she told them about the week they even refused to acknowledge each other.

It broke both mother's hearts to hear that about Mal and Jane. They figured that since both girls were half-fairy they'd have used that as common ground to start bonding with each other.

"I never thought that Jane had ever considered that she'd be the next Fairy Godmother. I was even more surprised to find out that Mal _was_ going to be my successor."

"How'd they get past the animosity of finding that out?" Liz asked seriously.

"Jane had to take care of Mal after she got sick from her first time using the wand. I don't know what happened when that happened, but since that day, those two have practically become sisters," she responded. Now her smile was as big as Liz's was when talking about Jay and Carlos, though she had to be given a tissue because she actually did cry a little. After she dabbed at them enough to feel that they had stopped she had a question of her own. "Liz, have the boys called you or Coach mom and dad?"

Liz smiled and almost teared up. Belle listened with bated anticipation.

"They don't with Sam, they find it weird, and so does he, so they all agreed to stick with _Coach._ "

"And you?" Belle prodded.

"They don't say it all the time, but it does get said. Carlos a little more than Jay," she said happily.

"That's because he's probably latched on to you," Fairy Godmother told her. "Mal mentioned once that Cruella lived up to her name when it came to being a mother."

"Does Mal call you mom?" Liz asked, not wanting to stay on the subject of Cruella DeVille for fear of becoming enraged at the thought of things that woman did her boy.

"She's still a little uncomfortable saying intentionally, but yes, she does say it every now and then without thinking."

Belle was now the one who had to hold back tears as she listened to these latest revelations. When she'd come up with the idea of placing these kids she never imagined that these kind of bonds would be formed. She just wanted to keep these children safe, instead, she realized, she'd given them so much more.


	14. Chapter 14

"It was really nice of your mothers to bring you guys over," Jane said as she and Carlos along with Mal and Ben sat out in the backyard, their parents inside.

"That's not gonna get us in any trouble is it?" Carlos asked nervously.

"It shouldn't," Mal shook her head as she and Ben sat on one of the lounge chairs. "Then again, me and Jane didn't do anything for one, so _we're_ clear."

"You two, I'd worry," Jane laughed, Mal joining in with her.

Carlos and Ben looked at each other. They weren't afraid, but their nerves acted up. "Relax," Mal said after she stopped laughing. "Mom can't hold it against you if your mothers brought you here."

As soon as she was done calming down the boys, Mal leaned up and kissed Ben on the cheek. She was about to tell him that she missed seeing him, but noticed that he was staring at her with self-assured smile. "What?" she asked.

"Really?" Carlos said from small table where he and Jane were sitting. "You're really gonna act like we didn't just hear what you said?"

Mal looked at Carlos like he'd temporarily gone insane. "Said what? That it can't be held against you two?"

Ben and Carlos let out small chuckles. Jane rolled her eyes. "She can't always tell when she does it," Jane cut in. "It just slips out every now and then."

"I called her Mom again didn't I?" Mal said in a restrained gasp.

All three of her friends nodded.

"So you call Fairy Godmother 'Mom' without thinking about it?" Ben asked.

Mal nodded sheepishly. She wasn't embarrassed to be caught or heard calling Fairy Godmother that, she just still felt some uneasiness about. It was because she knew she still had a mother, one that she still loved in her own way. But over this past summer, she'd experienced the kind of mother-daughter relationship that she'd never dreamed of having; or that she'd ever thought she'd enjoy.

With her mother, it was all about proving herself worthy of being called Maleficent's daughter, and earning the right to use her full name in her mother's eyes. There was constant pressure to be the best at being the absolute worst. She lied. She stole. She cheated. She bullied. Every bad thing she could think of in order to get her mother's approval.

But here, with Fairy Godmother it was…simpler. She didn't ask her to earn anything. Instead, she gave Mal as much as she could. A home where she didn't have to tick off a list of bad deeds just be let inside. The door had been thrown open for her. And there was no need to scratch and claw for approval since she knew that she'd had Fairy Godmother's from the day she walked in. But most importantly of all, Fairy Godmother let her know that the only one Mal had to prove herself to was herself. Mal loved how Fairy Godmother was always trying to build her into the best version of herself, not so she could decide that Mal was worthy of her name, but because she'd already decided that Mal was worthy…even if was for a title more than a name.

"What does she think about that?" Ben asked her softly.

"She doesn't mind, at least I don't think she does," Mal answered.

"She loves it," Jane revealed to the group. Mal looked over to Jane and gave her a questioning look and mouthed a "really" at her. Jane nodded at her, a warm smile on her face.

The four of them talked for a while longer before a slight bit of frustration set in. "Ugh, I wish we could go somewhere," Mal groaned.

"Yeah, but Mom's not gonna let us go," Jane corrected her.

"This is fine," Ben cut in.

"Yeah," Carlos agreed.

"It wouldn't be so bad if only…," Mal trailed off, her face lighting up and her trademark smirk creasing her lips.

Jane immediate felt a bad idea coming. "Mal no, we're already grounded for the rest of summer. Don't make it worse," she argued.

Mal just smiled, gave Ben a quick kiss on the lips, got up off his lap, made her way over to where Jane and Carlos were sitting and grabbed her by the hand. The boys watched as she dragged Jane over to the middle of the yard. "What do you think they're up to?" Ben asked.

" _They_?" Carlos asked as he came and sat in the lawn chair next to Ben's. "This is all your girlfriend. Mine likes to stay out of trouble usually."

"This is true," Ben concurred as they watched Mal and Jane arguing. They obviously couldn't hear what was being said, but judging by the waving hands, shaking heads, and Jane pressing her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, they could infer than Mal was trying to talk her into something.

"Do you think Mal's gonna – and apparently she will talk Jane into her plan," Carlos said as he watched Jane finally nod her head. Ben laughed and he and Carlos watched as Mal and Jane came back toward them. Once they were back on the stone patio, they held out their hands toward the grass and spoke a quick chant.

Almost immediately, the ground began to shake, and then the grass began to crack and cave in on itself until there was a hole in ground the size of half the yard. The boys, as well as Jane and Mal, listened as a bubbling noise began emanating from the hole and then they watched as water began to come up until it was level with the yard.

"Holy crap," Carlos gasped, his mouth hanging open.

"Did you two just make a pool?" Ben asked in just as much shock as Carlos as he sat up in the lawn chair.

"Oh God," Mal gasped, her eyes wide at the feat they'd just performed.

"Mal, that's way bigger that a paddling pool," Jane shouted as she gazed down at the massive body of water in her backyard.

"You think we overdid the spell?" Mal asked her.

"You mean you two didn't want to make this?" Ben asked.

Both girls shook their heads. "We were going for something a little smaller," Jane said nervously.

"Mom's gonna be pissed," Mal moaned as realized that there was no way they could hide this.

"What did you two do?" they heard from behind them. All four teenagers turned and saw Fairy Godmother standing at the backdoor, flanked by Belle and Liz. Mal and Jane found it difficult to decide how mad she was since she seemed to have more shock written on her face than anger at the moment.

"I can explain this," Mal started. "We tried to make a small kiddie –"

"Paddling," Jane interrupted her.

" _Paddling_ pool, you know, to sit in. I think we, uh, added too much…something…to the spell."

"I'll say," Liz said as she looked at the sparkling water.

"You know, it does look lovely," Belle added.

"Not helping," Fairy Godmother said as she stepped out into the backyard. She turned her attention back to her girls. "Might I ask why you thought we needed a pool?"

"Well," Mal began, "we were kind of bored, so I thought me and Jane could make a _small_ , paddling pool?" she said, turning to Jane to make sure she got the term right this time. Jane nodded. "A small paddling pool for us to sit in."

"This is a little bigger than that," Fairy Godmother said, doing her best to remain calm.

"How much trouble are we in now?" Jane asked sheepishly.

Fairy Godmother took a deep breath and then looked at Mal and Jane, her face softening. These two seem to have found themselves a pattern, she thought. As she remembered back to the more memorable things they done to get grounded; sneaking off to Snow White's kingdom, sneaking off to the party, blowing up her garden, and now this. Each incident had one thing in common: boredom. Fairy Godmother realized that her daughters seemed to get in the most trouble when they had nothing to do.

So she thought that maybe instead of immediately going for more punishment…

"You know what girls, I'm going to let you off on this one," she told them. Mal and Jane looked at her like she'd lost her mind, and the rest of the assembled guests had rather confused looks on their faces at the sound of the normally stern Fairy Godmother showing some mercy. "Boys," she said turning to Ben and Carlos, "if you would be so kind, could you please take the girls out for the day, a movie or something?"

"You're gonna let us go out?" Mal asked. Fairy Godmother nodded. "But what about the pool?"

"I'll take of it," she said. "You four just go have fun."

"Are you sure?" Mal asked.

"Mal, shut up and take it," Jane told her under her breath. "Guys, we'll be right back, we're gonna go change," she added, taking Mal by the hand and running her inside.

Belle and Liz laughed as they watched the girls run. "We'll go wait for them inside," Ben said. "Mom, do you want me to have the palace send another car for you and Mrs. Jenkins?"

"That'll work, Sweetie, have fun."

Ben nodded with a small smile.

"Carlos, take care of Jane," Liz instructed him.

"I will," he answered back as he followed Ben inside.

Belle smiled at Fairy Godmother. "I'm surprised you're being so calm about this."

Fairy Godmother smiled back and then looked over her shoulder into the house. Liz and Belle then watched as she made her wand appear in her hand and began waving in the direction of the pool. "Bibbidi bobbidi boo," she intoned, and then Belle and Liz watched as deck chairs with matching umbrellas appeared next to it. "Once the kids are gone, are you two happy with what you're wearing, or should I conjure up some swimwear?"

Belle and Liz broke out into loud laughter at the realization that Fairy Godmother had no intention of fixing what the girls had done at this immediate moment. She in fact, wanted them gone so _they_ could enjoy the two younger fairies' handiwork.

* * *

"Audrey hasn't been herself since that night," Phillip told Jay as he led him and Coach Jenkins to the rear of the castle and onto the grounds.

"I'm sorry about that," Jay remarked.

"I should be mad, but Audrey told me what happened. As far as I'm concerned, you're not completely at fault," he said to him, causing Jay to breathe a sigh of relief. "Of course you're not completely clear of wrong doing. But then again, neither is Audrey," he added causing him to become tense all over again.

"I told him the same thing," Coach Jenkins said as he followed where Audrey's father was leading them.

"Jay, can I ask you a question?" he inquired, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder. He nodded. "Why do you care about my daughter?"

Jay looked over at Coach, a look of help written on his face. "Don't look at me, I'm surprised you haven't had this talk with the man yet," Coach told him.

Jay sucked in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. Ever since that conversation he and Audrey had after Ben's party, things had been somewhat cold between Audrey and him. They still talked and texted, but he could tell that what had been said that night was still bothering her. He tried to get her to tell him what was making her fixate on it so much, but she just kept her distance in regards to the conversation.

Finally, at Coach's suggestion, he decided the best approach was a face to face talk. She couldn't avoid the topic if he was there to keep pressing it. So that was how he found himself inside Phillip and Aurora's castle.

They found themselves at the back entrance to the castle which led out to the grounds which were greener than even the school's tourney fields. Phillip didn't open the doors right away, and Jay knew that he was waiting for an answer to his question. For once, Jay felt a little intimidated. He'd never imagined that one of Auradon's royals could make him feel that, but then again, he remembered that the only real exposure he'd had to them was their children. And most of them were soft by his standards.

But this was King Phillip. This was the man who not only stood up to Maleficent, but actually killed her. Jay would find it difficult to admit out loud, but he had a small amount of respect for the man, after all, Maleficent scared even him.

"Because she's not the stuck up princess everyone thinks she is," he finally answered. Phillip looked at Jay with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know if you know or not, but at school, most people see her and wonder whether all the things that made her mother so loved skipped a generation."

Phillip was surprised to hear this. In fact, he looked over at Coach who simply held up his hands, choosing to stay neutral in all this. However, Phillip caught the slight nod he gave.

"But once you give her some time, and she starts to trust you, she lets the walls down," Jay continued. "You find out what she's like when it comes to people she cares about."

"Which is?"

"Loyal," he said without missing a beat. "Take Family Day a while back." Coach let out a groan at the memory since he was there to see the fiasco. For his part, Phillip was remembering what he was told since he and Aurora couldn't make it. "Not one of her best days for making people feel welcome, but she told me she really thought she was protecting her grandmother from Mal."

"She like that with you?" Coach asked, amazingly channeling the thoughts of Phillip.

"I know she took some…heat…from her friends when we started dating. She even mentioned people here not being too thrilled," he continued. "But she said she never let what other people said or did stop her from making a decision before, so why start now."

Jay went silent. He hoped that answer satisfied Audrey's father because he'd have hated to come all this way and not be able to talk to her. Luckily for him, Phillip was happy to find someone who finally saw the Audrey he knew was really there, not the veneer she put up.

"Follow this stone path until you get to the fountain. When it splits offs, take the path on the right. It will lead you to some trees she likes to sit under," he instructed. Jay nodded in thanks and walked off.

"You really think he can fix things with her?" Coach asked the king in front of him.

"I hope so," Phillip responded as he watched Jay walk further down the stone path. "Because I hate seeing my little girl so upset."

The small orchard of cherry blossom trees on the castle's north lawn was Audrey's favorite place in the palace and its grounds. They were a gift from Mulan and Li Shang to celebrate Audrey's birth. Actually, it had been just the one tree they sent, but after years of care from the royal gardener, one had turned to thirty in various stages of growth. Right now she was under the original tree they'd received. Being the oldest tree, it was the same age as her, and the most mature of the group. It was the one she liked to sit under the best since this was the one that had created the rest of the group.

She'd been spending more and more time here as of late, mostly since the night of the party, thinking back to the conversation she'd had with Jay. She hated that she got so upset with him, especially since she was the one who asked him about his use of that nickname. But that night had led to some soul searching for the young princess, and despite how much she wanted to see her boyfriend, she needed to do that alone.

At least she thought she did until she felt a presence joining her. "You should've told me you were coming," Audrey told him when she felt him sit down next to her.

"I didn't think you would say yes."

"Why?"

"You haven't exactly been happy when we talk lately," Jay said.

She turned to look at him. "I've been…doing some thinking. Some of it about you. Some of it about us. Mostly about me," she told him.

"And?"

"I know people think I'm some kind of high maintenance priss. Others just think I'm a bitch," she started. Jay felt himself become a little upset at hearing Audrey call herself that. "But I always figured my friends thought different."

"We do you know," Jay said in an attempt to reassure her.

Audrey rested her head on Jay's shoulder. " _You_ think different," she remarked. "At least now you do. But I had to earn it because when you first got here, I completely acted like one."

"You changed though."

"For you. But I still have moments where I treat people like servants. And…and that's why I've been so upset. I want to change, but I don't know if I can," she admitted.

Jay wrapped his arm around her, and squeezed her tightly to him. He didn't say anything, not because he didn't have anything to say, but because he knew that she wasn't looking for him to. He heard her sniffling and reasoned that she was crying. He let her get it out until he heard her crying calm down after a few minutes. He then reached down and tilted her head to face him.

"If you want to change, I'll be here for you while you do that. But if you ask me, I think you're perfect the way you are," he told her.

Audrey felt herself suddenly become overcome with emotion at the sound of those words. Tears start running down her cheeks again and before Jay could try to stop them, she leaned up and kissed him, hard and deep.

"I'm sorry I got mad at you," she told him when she broke the kiss.

"Feel free to get mad again," he said without thinking as he recovered from that kiss.

Audrey giggled through her tears and kissed him again, more gently this time. "I missed you."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: I never thought this story would go on _this_ long, but I'm glad it did. It's been fun writing it. And while I may be done with this story, I'm not done with this idea. I've decided to do the sequel, but I'm going to take some time to plan it out, although, I will try to have something out soon I might take a little time to organize it and work on others stories that have gotten put off this week. This time, Evie will be in it as a main character, not just mentioned here and there.

Enjoy…

* * *

"Girls, come on, you're going to be late," Fairy Godmother shouted as she walked into the kitchen, putting the finishing touches to pinning her hair back into a loose bun.

Summer was over and it was the first day of school. Fairy Godmother was stressed beyond belief since she was running late, mostly because the girls had decided that after a month of peace, today would be the day they resurrected their morning arguments over the use of their shared bathroom. She only sped things back up by letting Mal use hers to avoid someone getting turned into some kind of pet.

"You're the headmistress, we can't be late," she heard Mal shout from her room.

"Don't get smart, Mal."

"Sorry. If it helps…then the king's girlfriend can't be late," Mal shouted.

"During school hours, _I'm_ in charge, and believe me, it is entirely possible for you to be late, so hurry please. You too, Jane."

"I'm almost done," Jane shouted from her bedroom. "Mal, I need help zipping up."

"Just let me finish putting on my boots," Mal answered back.

"Girls, you still need to eat," Fairy Godmother told them as she pulled out some fruit along with bottles of juice out of the refrigerator.

"We're coming," both shouted back, impatience in their tones.

Thank goodness I made them pack up and leave most of their things in their dorm rooms days ago, she thought, otherwise this would've been a _very_ long morning.

* * *

The Jenkins house was usually a well-organized place, mostly thanks to Liz. The boys, all four of them, were up no later than eleven and having breakfast before completing a few chores and then being allowed to do what they wanted. But that was the routine that had prevailed for most of the summer.

On the morning of the first day back to school, things were running a little different.

Currently, the twins were the only ones seated for breakfast. Liz smiled as she looked them over in their new clothes as they ate their cereal and toast. She was always surprised by how quickly they seemed to be growing up. Today was another reminder of that since they were starting seventh grade. A few more years and it'll be off to high school, maybe even Auradon Prep, she thought, and then they're moving out for college. She almost felt herself becoming teary eyed as she thought of that – like she did every year.

It didn't help that this year, she was sending two more kids to school. Except the older two wouldn't be coming back at the end of the day like the twins would be. No, they'd be moving onto campus and if she was lucky, she might see them on weekends.

"Alright, so Jay and Carlos' stuff is in the car, now they just need to join it," Coach Jenkins said as he came back in from packing the boys' belongings into the car. "Boys, let's get a move on," he shouted upstairs.

A few seconds later, Carlos came down, his backpack hanging off his shoulders. "No breakfast?"

"Eat fast," he heard Liz say from the kitchen. He went over and grabbed some toast, beginning to eat while he waited for Jay.

"Where's Jay?" Liz asked him.

"Finishing getting dressed, he overslept," he answered through a mouthful of toast and grape jelly.

"Manners," she told him.

He forced down his mouthful, took a large drink of milk and then said, "Sorry."

"There any food left?" they heard Jay ask as he finally made his way down into the kitchen.

"We've got to go," they heard Coach from the living room.

"Boys, go grab your bags," Liz told the twins, who nodded before running up to their room. "You," she said in Jay's direction, sliding a plate of toast and a banana toward him, "make it quick."

As he started eating, she looked at both boys. They'd come along way from the first day they'd walked into this house three months ago. They were strangers then. Now, they were her family. Why do they have to be going back to school, she thought. Yes, I'll have the twins at the end of the day, but the house isn't going to feel the same without these two.

* * *

"I'm gonna get lost," Raymond said as he, Evie, and his parents, Snow White and Florian, sat in the back of the car as it drove them to Auradon Prep. They'd spent the past few nights in the house his parents kept here in Auradon whenever one or both of them needed to be here for something official.

"You're not going to get lost, Sweetie," Snow told him.

"You might," Evie stated.

"Evie," Snow chided her, giving her a playful nudge to the knee with her own.

"What? I want to be honest with him," Evie said. "When me and my friends were brought over we kept getting lost for the first few days. It's a big campus. Luckily for you," she smiled to her nephew, "you'll have the same thing I had to make it easier."

"Which is?" he asked nervously.

"Someone you can ask for directions any time you want." Both Snow and Raymond looked at her. "I mean me," she finished with a ruffling of his hair.

Evie watched as Raymond nodded apprehensively. Poor kid, she thought, new schools are hardly easy to begin with, but this had to be terrifying for him. At least at his old school he could go home where he felt comfortable. But now he was actually leaving home and the safety and reliability of his parents, probably for the first time in his life. It was just what she felt last year when she, Mal, Jay, and Carlos arrived.

But just like her, he'll have some back up looking out for him. She'll watch over him for her sister, just like her friends watched over her.

"There you go, Ray," Florian said to his nervous son. "Evie will make sure you're okay."

"Who helped you find your way around?" Raymond asked.

"Doug, of course," she scoffed. "So don't worry, you'll be fine, I'll make sure of it."

Snow smiled at the sound of her sister reassuring her son. These past three months had been a test of resolve for both women. From getting past the emotional powder keg that the specter of their mother created, to figuring out where each other stood, to finally coming together as a family; the road was long and anything but a smooth ride. But now, Snow White and Evie, the daughters of Grimhilde, the Evil Queen were something that neither of them ever thought they'd be, sisters and friends.

* * *

The campus was buzzing with energy, as usually happens with the first day of any school. But as Fairy Godmother watched the multitude of students crisscrossing the grounds, she felt a swell of pride. She loved when her students came back to campus. The whole place felt alive with them on it. And since she had to spend some time here preparing the school for them, she knew what it felt like without them.

Depressing...that was the least harsh word she could come up with to describe it.

But now, all the old buildings were practically brimming with life. The incoming freshman were nervously moving back and forth, trying to find their way and hoping to not get lost. For most of them, this was probably the first time they'd ever been away from the home and families. Now they'd have to learn how to make new families out of the friends they made.

Their parents were equally as nervous. Most schools in Auradon for younger children weren't boarding schools, so they still went home at the end of the day. But now, these parents were going to have to let go of their children and let them leave home, probably for the first time ever. And she did sympathize with them when talking to them to alleviate their fears and concerns, since last year she went through the same thing with Jane. The only difference was that since was headmistress, she still got to see Jane every day.

"I remember having to move in like this last year," Jane said as she watched the throng of students doing to their best to move in as fast as possible.

"It's like chaos," Mal uttered. "How are we supposed to have time for classes with all this?"

"Easy, we don't have classes today," Jane answered her.

"Contrary to what most of the new students actually believe, Mal," Fairy Godmother started to explain as she led the girls to their dorm hall, grateful that they were in the same building. "Classes start the second day of school here at Auradon Prep. Day one, is move in day."

"Good call bringing us in a couple of days ago then," Mal nodded as she realized that she didn't need to worry about this as much as the other students did. "I wonder if –"

"Mal! Jane!" they heard shouted from behind them. They turned and became excited at the sight of Evie running toward them. Once she reached them, the three girls hugged each other, elated to be seeing each other after essentially three months apart. Fairy Godmother smiled at the way the girls greeted each other like the sisters they were. She was happy to see Mal and Evie together again, and was even more pleased to know that the two of them had chosen to include her own daughter into their bond.

"It's quite the sight isn't it?" Fairy Godmother heard from behind her and turned to see Snow White and Florian walking toward them, their son Raymond pulling up the rear.

"Hi Snow, Florian," she greeted with a small bowing of her head. "And hello to you too, Raymond."

Germania's royal family greeted the school's headmistress, though Snow's attention was on her sister and her friends. "It's good to see them together again," she said without thinking as she watched the three girls get reacquainted

"It really is," Fairy Godmother agreed. "Thanks to Mal, Jane's grown up so much this summer, she's more confident, she actually defends herself now."

"And Mal? Has Jane been an influence on her?" Florian asked.

"She's still a handful, but she's learning to think before she does something. And most importantly, she's learned that she can admit to her mistakes without feeling like she's being weak," she said, almost feeling like she was bragging about how far both her girls had come. "What about Evie?"

"Amazing, I have the best little sister in the world," Snow beamed with pride.

Before Snow could say anything further, the three girls let out squeals and screams of joy and started making their way back toward the parking lots. Turning to see what had grabbed their attention, the assembled parents saw that Coach Jenkins and his wife had pulled up, and for the girls that meant one thing; the boys had arrived.

As they watched the girls get reacquainted with their friends, boyfriend in Jane's case, the adults stood back and watched. There were hugs, mostly from the girls, a few pecks on the cheeks, even from the boys, and one large kiss from Jane to Carlos.

"Aww," Snow White and Liz gushed as they witnessed the reunion. Coach Jenkins just smiled.

"Jane! There are rules about public displays of affection like that," Fairy Godmother called out to her daughter, as she watched Jane and Carlos practically making out. "Jane!"

Jane and Carlos broke their kiss, the two of them blushing profusely. "Um…sorry, Mom," Jane stammered as she straightened out her skirt.

"Uh…yeah," Carlos said, still caught off guard by the kiss.

"I guess Jane's the aggressive one in the relationship," Snow laughed.

"It's always the quiet ones," Liz said, both amused and slightly surprised.

As they continued to watch the kids talk, every one of the adults heard their phones begin to sound off. All of them checked their respective devices and saw that it as a text from Belle. "She's asking us to meet her in the library after we get the kids settled," Fairy Godmother relayed out loud.

* * *

Unlike the rest of the school, the library was relatively quiet, the chaos that was move-in day not making its way there. In fact, today was one of only a handful of days where the library would see no visitors. So as Snow White and Florian, Coach Jenkins and Liz, and Fairy Godmother waited for Belle to arrive, they sat in relative peace. "You're sure you have no idea what she wants?" Coach Jenkins asked Fairy Godmother.

"Not a clue," she answered. "Although, considering we're all here, it has to do with the kids I'd wager. Probably just wants to see how they did all summer."

"Thinking like that is why me and Adam made you headmistress," they heard Belle say as she entered. The group of parents began to stand, only to be motioned back into their chairs. "I apologize for being a little late, getting Ben settled in took a little longer than I anticipated.

"He wanted to go see Mal rather than move in didn't he?" Fairy Godmother asked.

"I had to force him to unpack," the Queen Mother answered as she sat at the table with the other parents, people she now called her friends. The collected group let out small laughs. "That being said, I called you all here because I wanted to say thank you. I know this summer was probably much different than all of you are used to." A few nods. "But I hope that it was worth it."

"Definitely," Liz said out of reflex. Again there was a small erupting of laughter.

Before they knew it however, all the parents were talking about the children they'd let into their lives and the changes that had occurred, both to the children and to themselves, because of it. Coach Jenkins and Liz talked about how Jay had learned to let down his guard and let people in. That having the twins looking up to him forced him to become more mature and look into himself to see that maybe he didn't have to act as if he was alone in facing the world. And how Carlos had opened himself up to the idea of what a stable and loving home could be, and that it was possible for him to have it and that it wouldn't be taken away.

Snow White gushed over how Evie had learned that she didn't _need_ to be perfect. That she was exceptional just the way she was. But Snow felt a great feeling of pride as she recalled that Evie had eventually made the decision that while she happy with who she was now, that it was still okay to make changes, not because she was lacking, but because changes can be for growth, and to make her into an even better version of herself.

Finally, Fairy Godmother was all smiles as she recounted the summer that had changed her and her daughter's life. Mal had come in and taught all of them that it you couldn't shut off part of yourselves. And that her presence had brought changes to both herself and the girl that Mal now considered another sister. For Mal, it was the dawning of a new, growing family, something she'd never even considered back on the Isle. A family that was ready to accept her for who she was, both good and bad, and was eager to help her embrace a future that held a destiny that she never imagined would ever be hers. For Jane, it was the answering of prayers she'd had since she was a little girl; the wanting of a sister to help her overcome the inadequacies that she saw everyday by telling her that plain and simply, that those inadequacies weren't there. That it was okay to feel like you didn't fit with the rest of the world because you family would always accept you.

Belle listened to these stories, doing her hardest not to cry. Her plan had come full circle. What had started as her own motherly instincts driving her to protect children that others might have cast off back into a place where their very lives might be endangered, had turned into a proving of something she believed more than anything else. That the love a family, whether it was one you were born into, or one you created, could bring out the best in anyone, just like it had these four children, and brought out even better in the loved ones that had taken them in.

The End


End file.
